Google is testing a way to solicit new businesses from searchers in the search results, using the local 3-pack.

When a local 3-pack shows up without a third listing, Google instead includes a “Something missing? Add the missing place”  in this test.

This is not just for searchers who might want to add their favorite business that is missing.  But because many business owners do vanity searches, but might not be aware of how to add a business to Google through Google My Business, it also gives those business owners the opportunity to get started with their businesses showing up in the local results.

When a searcher clicks through, they see this page, which asks the searcher to “Add a missing business or other public landmark”:

They can drag the map marker to the location of the business, and then add their information.  There is also a link for business owners to “Claim this business”, if they are adding it for their own business.

Because it is a test, it isn’t clear if Google is only showing this if they suspect there is a business they might be missing but the form isn’t specific to the search that was done.

But the addition for including a public landmark is interesting – so many of those types of things are missing from local search unless it also operates as a business.  But they would still be useful in a local 3-pack or local knowledge panel.

Here is how that same search would normally look:

This is one of their local tests I would love to see rolled out.

Thank you to Sergey Alakov for sending these screenshots to The SEM Post.