I figured I’d been adjusting Mike BlumenthalBeen doing local searches for nearly 20 years. There’s a reason his voice is so trusted in the industry, and I’d like to summarize something he’s written recently that struck me as how elegantly it encapsulates this moment in local search time:
-
Currently, there is a lot of discussion within the larger SEO industry about Google self-favoring its own results. At the legislative level, Google favors its own products and makes third-party assets less noticeable, making it the subject of antitrust investigations.
-
A historical example of Google’s self-preference is the removal of a highly visible MapQuest link in 2007. This is believed to have contributed to the decline of the once dominant brandand self-preferring Google Maps rose to near-monopoly status.
-
When it comes to self-preference, Google’s local map is an asset they’re very interested in protecting. As Mike Blumenthal said in his article,
“exist EU EMA hearing in brussels…Google is very clear that they don’t talk about local search results or their physical map in the context of “self-preference.” By trying to establish this boundary, they are trying to protect one of the important sources of proprietary data that encourages zero-click behavior: this map.
Every local business owner and SEO should read Mike’s full article, Local search is evolving, here’s why you need to pay attention. Against the backdrop of these realities and the overall state of the search in 2024, here are my three top takeaways and tips:
1. Unwelcome SERP changes
Organic SERPs are an absolute mess this year for the following reasons Various updates Plus Rush to launch elements such as an overview of artificial intelligence, which sets new high standards in self-preference. Much of Google’s recent growth isn’t a huge win for publishers/business owners whose content is scraped and turned into AI hashes and whose own sites are struggling with content farms and other low-quality entities Organic visibility.
2. Local is different in terms of network traffic
Local searches are often outliers. While Google’s self-preference for SERP content has a direct negative impact on publishers, their bias toward their own local charts has mixed results for local business owners and their marketers. As Mike Blumenthal succinctly summed it up: “Web traffic, while good, is not critical to the success of our local business.”
In other words, once a customer finds you and arrives at your venue or makes an appointment, do you really care whether they find you through your website or through a local pack four pack, infinipack, double pack, location website, local pack? Maps, product-driven local results, SERP features, or AI overview? The answer is: maybe not too much. Your main concern is whether these sources are misrepresenting your business and driving away customers.
3. Local lemonade among SERP lemons
Self-preference and antitrust concerns, while absolutely legitimate, must be viewed in a slightly different light locally. If local businesses still benefit directly from Google’s ever-changing menu of different local SERP features, then the pressure of a monopolistic scenario feels less pressing around us. We can still win customers through Google’s tight control over its local map. Google has invested heavily in making localization visible within its ecosystem.
all in all, relatively In the midst of the stormy Google organic SERPs, the stability and usefulness of local SERPs make them something you can focus on marketing your local businesses to hopefully make good (and somewhat reliable) gains, if you get the basics right. You can continue to drive conversions both online and offline. Now, let’s look at the basics.
