Google Slider Replacing the Maps Seven Pack?
June 19th, 2013 by
Many people have seen the slider on the top of Google search results when searching for “things to do various city,” but have you seen it when searching other local terms lately? When I searched the term, “Pizza New Orleans,” I noticed the slider appearing instead of the seven pack for the first time today! I search this term often–not because of my love for pizza, but because of my client’s pizza chain. Never in the history of everdom have I seen the slider show up for this particular term.
What if Google is leaning more towards this instead of the seven pack? This can be a good and bad for local businesses. Good because your business will not be pushed all the way to the bottom of page one, way under the seven pack. Potentially bad, because many people may be driven to click the pretty images on top of the screen vs. clicking on the plain jane search results.
What does this mean for me, you ask? How can I be a part of this beautiful slider? As our fearless leader says, “Barnacle SEO is the answer!” A well optimized Google Place listing and page are the first steps. Your best possible scenario is to be the Theo’s Pizza of the page! Theo’s is the first Google Place listing in the slider AND the third organic listing on the page. As per usual, the more real estate the better.
It’s going to be very interesting to see where Google takes this and how far it will go. Will it eventually replace the seven pack? Only God–I mean Google knows!
P.S. This doesn’t show up for everyone. A few of my co-workers have seen this in the wild and a few have not. Have you noticed this type of result for other queries besides “pizza” or “things to do?” Tell us in the comments below!
