Google is testing a new feature that would show partial review snippets within the local pack. The snippets show up both in the regular local pack as well as once someone clicks the “more places” to view the longer list of local businesses. When the test is active, it shows a short snippet from one […]
Google Testing Ad Tag Placement in Google Local Packs
Google is testing some new positioning for the “Ads” tag in their local packs on mobile. Normally, Google places the ads tag in the same line as the review stars. But when a listing has no review stars, it drops the ads tag even further in the listing, inexplicably adding it to the address line […]
Bing Adds Deal Tag to Local Pack in Search Results
Bing is testing a new feature in their local pack… adding a “Deal” tag directly into the local pack results when there is a coupon code Bing has sourced for the store. Here is what it looks like: As you can see, Bing is pulling the coupon information from the partial list that shows in […]
Google Adds Vacation Rentals to Hotel Search
Google is getting into the vacation rental space by adding specific vacation rentals to their popular hotel search. Now, when you do a hotel search for some locations, Google will add a prompt asking if you’d rather search for vacation rentals instead. This is a huge change and could have a huge impact on the […]
Google Encouraging Local Ratings & Reviews With Call to Action Test
Google is encouraging searchers to leave ratings and reviews for local businesses with a new call to action test in the mobile search results. It adds a new “Tell everyone about your experience” above the usual five empty stars. Sergey Alakov spotted the test. Here is what it looks like: The interesting part of “tell […]
Google Flags User Submitted Store Hours in Local Knowledge Panel
Google has received some criticism when hours listed in a local knowledge panel don’t match a location’s actual hours. Google is now showing when a user submits hours that don’t match the hours either Google has added or that the business has submitted, and flags them clearly as being different hours that someone has submitted. […]
Google Adds Other Locations to Local Knowledge Panel
Google has made yet another change to how they display local businesses in the knowledge panel. Google is now showing additional locations when it displays the knowledge panel, in a carousel at the bottom of the knowledge panel. Here is what it looks like: It has an additional “view all” link that can be clicked, […]
Bing Local Pack Shows Live Traffic Conditions in Search Results
Bing has added a new feature to their local packs in the Bing search results – the ability to toggle live traffic conditions on and off to help searchers choose a business when traffic is a concern. Here is how it looks normally – there is a new icon on the top right that acts […]
Google Maps Soliciting Location Information in Organic Search Results
Google is testing an interesting way to get data for Google Maps. When doing a search query – and a query that seemingly has nothing to do with local or location – Google will display a map with a pin and ask the searcher if they know what is located at the location marker. Here […]
Google Adds Festival Locations to Local Google Maps
Google has added a new feature to their local maps – Google will now show an area that a festival is in a map. Emily M. Yetzer shared this screenshot showing a local festival showing on Google Maps when nearby Ribfest in Chicago. It appears it shows it not when someone is searching specifically for […]