Over the past month, I have noticed that local business websites have started receiving less web traffic from both “Sponsored” and organic search, despite high positions in search results. Now the reason is known!
The reason was that Google has started experimenting with which information blocks it displays in search engine results for local searches.
Google local search is a search method on Google that helps you find nearby businesses, services, or places. For example, if you search for “cafes” or “hairdressers”, Google shows you results that are closest to your current location. This makes life more convenient when you need something quickly or don’t want to go far.
3 different variations
The first variation is similar to the previous classic version: Sponsored results, locations, and organic results.
While previously, in addition to sponsored websites, only a map and some references to Google My Business were shown (equivalent here to the “Places” block), now “Places sites” have also been added, featuring additional results from larger portals where more relevant information can be found.
This new block attracts extra attention, and as a result, websites in the organic ranking receive less attention and visits.
Second variation: slightly different from the previous one
Here, the order is as it was before, but “Places sites” has been added, which is now located after the “Locations” info panel.
Here again, the effect is that the website organically in the 1st position in local search receives fewer clicks.
Third variation: locations, sponsored, and organic results
What is remarkable about this layout is that it does not show sponsored results at the top. It is precisely this layout of search results that causes a drop in click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates for Google Ads local search campaigns, because people get the information they need from the location block above.
Summary
Google is testing different layouts of information blocks that affect user attention. One of the main changes is the addition of a new information block, ‘Sites for places’, which aggregates additional results from larger portals. This block takes some of the attention away from organic search results, which is why websites in organic and sponsored rankings receive less attention and visits.
The most important takeaway from this story is that in any case, the central element is the location block, which is always ahead of organic results. If you want your business to be organically visible to people nearby, you need to create a proper, information-filled Google Business Profile for your company, if you haven’t already done so.