We have some more big changes happening in the local space for Google local business listings. Over the course of the day Thursday, Google began switching over the usual 7-pack local listings to all 3-pack, AKA Snack Pack local results. This means that instead of showing 7 businesses in the pack and in the map, those spots are now only available to 3 businesses.
7-Packs Now 3-Packs
Mike Blumenthal was the first to notice the usual 7-packs had dropped down to only 3. The move to 3-packs rolled out throughout the day yesterday. And in an unusual move for local, Google launched this change both in the US and internationally at once.
Exact Addresses Removed
Google has also removed specific addresses from the snack pack listings, instead only listing the street name. This requires a searcher to either click through to the website or the map listing in order to get the exact address.
Phone Numbers Removed
Searchers will no longer have easy access to the phone number of the business. They now need to click through the listing or get the number from the website. The mobile version (detailed below) doesn’t display the phone number but does have a “Call” option for each listing.
Google+ Links Removed
Also removed are the Google+ links we have all become familiar with. Because Google has pushed for local businesses to claim their page officially, this change is pretty interesting.
Store Hours Added
They have also added in store hours, including opening and closing times, depending on the time of day of the search.
Reviews No Longer Labelled “Google Reviews”
Gone are the labels on the reviews listing them as “Google Reviews.” Now they are simply called “reviews” with the number of reviews for each business still included.
No Flyouts
We are used to being able to scroll over local listings to see the local card for the business displayed on the right hand side. This no longer happens, to see the “Card”, you have to click through to the secondary local page.
Where Clicks Go
When a user does click through to a listing on any place other than the “Website” link, searchers will see additional local listings and the map. There are 20 local listings per page, and users can click through to see additional ones.
The card on the right is similar to what we normally would have seen as the flyout on the search results page.
How it Looks on Mobile
Mobile also sees the complete address moved, with “Call” being the notable option here.
For comparison, here is how it used to look as a 7-pack, for the same local search.
You can see the full address, the Google+ page and the reviews.
And here is the identical search now:
Mozcast
We started seeing the snack packs early this morning, and Mozcast data seems to have caught the very beginning of the changeover, with the drop in 7 packs and the rise of snack packs.
And here is what today’s Mozcast looks like.
The 7-pack is listed at o% while local snack packs are at 14.3%, an increase of 427% since yesterday.
Two varieties of Newer Packs
Dr. Pete Meyers from Moz mentioned that he is seeing two types of new packs, but they are both currently combined.
@jenstar Unfortunately, my data is currently combining both varieties of newer packs, which are subtlely different. Old packs are gone.
— Dr. Pete Meyers (@dr_pete) August 7, 2015
With so many businesses used to being featured in a 7-pack that are now completely removed with the 3-pack, we are going to see a lot more competition for those 3 spots, and potentially more spam or negative SEO attempts as a way to compensate for this.
This is a huge shakeup for local. I have reached out to Google and will update when I hear back.
Added: Here is a thread on the Local Search Forums on the changes.
Added: Here is a quote from a Google spokesperson on the new local changes.
We are constantly exploring the best way to bring a better search experience to our users. This update provides people with more relevant information, including photos, reviews and prices, for searches that have multiple results for a given location.
Jennifer Slegg
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Brian Barwig says
This is a poor user experience which doesnt help anyone. Removing the phone number, address and G+ pages provides little to no value. Maybe G is trying to push consumers to the Map with more listings?
I wrote a piece on this as well if you want a deeper dive: http://www.integratedigitalmarketing.com/google-goes-to-local-3-pack/
Going to be a busy weekend!
Linda Buquet says
Thanks Jen for linking to our discussion at the Local Search Forum.
I just did a big roundup post featuring all the commentary/opinion posts I could find from authority sources earlier today. I’ll add your post to the new roundup.
Vishal says
This is pretty interesting move.
Local listings are a major part of our business, we were ranked quite well in Google for generic term+ City name.
Websites who are ranked well for local results are going to be benefited from this move, which I think is a good move. Showing top 7 results doesn’t make a sense, when users are going to click on one of the top 3.
Arun says
Ahh, bad news for the websites those were there in the 4 -7 places. So they will have now a fewer sales or leads on those keywords for those they used to be appeared in the 4th or lower position.
Vadim Mialik says
I understand 3 pack makes sense for some categories, but there are plenty of competitive industries where 7 pack or at least 5 pack makes sense. This is a very drastic jump in my opinion.
Marc Poulin says
You are right Vadim,
For a nearby pizza, a 3 pack may be OK but in many other instances, a larger pack is required to be helpful to the searcher.
Also, a 3 pack may make more sense in mobile searches than in desktop seraches.
Regards,
Kyle says
I can’t think of one reason they’d want to remove the phone number and address, nor the extra 4 listings. Can you?
Linda Buquet says
1st step in a move to go pay-to-play is my guess.
Only 3 precious spots. Pay to be listed. Then at that point they add phone so they can do pay for clicks or for calls. (My best guess.)
Jessi says
$$$$$ -maybe they’re going to make advertisers pay for it?!
stuart says
Going from 7 to 3 perhaps creates more frenzy for local ads, and higher bids on those ads? Maybe removing the phone in addition increases the chances of people clicking on “something” which could be an ad?
Anthony says
My guess is to track the click throughs on the listings and incorporate this as a ranking factor. My guess is that there was probably a lot of businesses ranked 2 – 7 previously who people just called. Now Google is offering them only a click through.
Will be really interesting to see the consistency of the top 3 results and whether Google starts cycling through the rankings a little more than normal to get a feel as to who is getting the calls.
jeremy widdup says
The possible reasons:
1. Going from 7 to 3 listing = Higher percentage of paid ad clicks / page view or 7 choices are too many and 3 gives customer focus (bit like 7 types of bottle water at the supermarket vs choice of 3) – At the first search page stage of search most listings can not differentiate as well as they can at the second click – And here there are 20 choices. Also making the click requirement (rather than the hover) it probably gives Google data on the ctr and this might even effect the Algo like it does with quality score in adwords (for ranking local search results in the future).
2. As for the telephone numbers and addresses – there are both there on the second click – And using the selections here on individual listings reveals the address and tel numbers on right hand panel – Hence there are still here albeit it requires the extra process, but however there is no requirement to actually go to maps or shift gears to different applications
Michael Garza says
I agree here! Competition will stiffen and negative SEO will ensue. From Google’s perspective they will continue to funnel leads through the Google rabbit hole and charge more per transaction as a way to increase revenue…
Danielle says
Would love to hear why Google thinks less information is = to “more relevant” information.
Andy Kuiper says
No phone numbers??? – great user experience on a mobile Google…
Nathan Veenstra says
There’s an option to call immediately now. Perfect IMO, since people don’t have to look up your number on your website anymore and can call you immediately.
Sherm Stevens says
It’s apparent that Google wants to push more businesses to paid ads.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Google rolled out click to call ads a short time before getting rid of phone numbers in the 3-pack.