Jaimie Dobson Internet Consultant

For sometime now Google, through its Local Business Center, has presented in its SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages) a list of nearby companies and services that are thought to be relevant to a localised search.

To demonstrate what I mean, try searching with the keyword phrase “commercial photographers in Leeds” (note the geographical modifier phrase for “Leeds” within this search term).

In response to this query, Google throws you a set of results for web pages it feels are relevant to the search term and the location you’ve specified i.e. “commercial photographers” in “Leeds“.

At the top of my page screenshot you’ll see a block of results which are taken from the Local Business Center database for businesses that Google deems to be applicable to the root search term (the “commercial photographer” bit) within the location modifier (the “Leeds” bit).

So far so good!

Google has now announced that it’s taken this concept one step further by rolling out its local search results without the need to type in the location modifier phrase in the search term i.e there’s no need to include the “Leeds” bit I’ve given in my example.

To do this Google is assuming that it knows your location without you having to tell it. It does this by reading the IP address that you are using with your computer and automatically assigns a broad location to it according to the location that the IP address is registered to.

To see what I mean go to Google and search with “Commercial Photographers” as a stand alone phrase.

As you’ll see from my results screenshot below, part-way down the page (why these results are presented part-way down the page is unclear) you’ll see a block of results for “commercial photographers” near “London” (circled Red). The “London” bit is where Google thinks I am based using the the IP address that my ISP has assigned to me.

As someone located some 180 miles north of London in West Yorkshire, this is clearly wrong for me and as such these results as they stand are no use to man nor beast.

However in this block of results (circled in Green) you’ll see a “Change Location” link which when clicked prompts you to enter a postcode or a town. After resending the search query, the results block is modified accordingly with ‘Leeds‘ results and you are conveniently asked to “Remember the location” for future use.

So What Does All this Mean?

Well apart from it being a cool feature of Google which in effect allows you to customise the search results you are presented with and it being another indication of how the “search market” is going more local; it does have some positive implications for the average business owner.

It means that you have a greater chance of your localised business being found in the search results. However you do need to lay your stall out first: if your business is not already listed in Google’s Local Business Center or has a basic, unclaimed listing; then it’s time to get it padded out and updated with more details about your business which should include a link to your business website. This service is free, so there’s nothing to lose and everything to gain but increased exposure of your business on the web.

To get your business listed on Google’s Local Business Center, or to claim an existing basic listing, visit: www.google.com/local/add and sign-up.

However, before we all get too excited about this latest innovation I’d say they need to improve upon that default IP address location facility and why on earth do they feel it necessary to place the results block halfway down the page?

Like this Post? Read Others Similar To It:

• Page 1 of Google for Only £75 per Month (1)
• Why You Should Move Your Mail to the Cloud with Google Apps (0)
• Free Google Guide: Turning Clicks into Profits (0)
• Yahoo-Microsoft Search Deal. A Google Killer? (2)
• Only 8% of People Know What a Browser Is Google Discovers (1)

Tags: Google Tools, Search Engines