In another game changer for the SEO field, Google is reportedly working on a new way for local businesses to get indexed in a new way.
Unofficially called “Google Local Business Cards”, this new approach is only offered via invitation to brick and mortar local businesses. Previously, Google had experimented with soothing called ‘Candidate Cards’ which allowed political candidates to showcase their agendas. Now this process is being applied to business, especially local businesses. Google Local Business Cards is not open to e-commerce sites which could cause a major bone of contention as it may appear and actually be a leg up for the brick and mortar stores and the e-commerce businesses will be left in the dust.
The local businesses are displayed in a horizontal scrolling venue. Much like you’ll see on Facebook when you choose a video or a post. A horizontal scrolling bar featuring like minded content appears.
This new test may well usher in a new age for local SEO. The results only businesses and Google will know. You can bet this field test is going to have SEO pros, businesses, and Google sitting on the edge of their seats for a while.
Businesses who want to participate have to ask Google for an invitation.
Local SEO pros will be cleaning up with this new venue. SERPs have become more efficient and the traditional SEO tactics are being challenged. A website today is measured more by its interactivity than backlinking. Google wants to rid itself of any tactics and opportunities that hackers and spammers use to compromise the quality of their search engine results.
Google has been upending apple carts for over a year regarding SEO. They’ve not only changed algorithms without warning, but they’ve also minimized their communication with the SEO community. They’ve also implemented new AI systems like RankBat seems to be getting smarter every day. It’s so smart that one might expect it to provide the best results before a person even enters a search query.
These advances and tests of new procedures are all meant to make the surfer’s life more pleasurable online, especially when using Google. Google can’t afford to lose surfers because of rotten webmasters and marketers who exploit every avenue to get the high spots in the search results only to lead surfers to malware sites or other unscrupulous sites.
As much as a game changer and worrisome thing this is for hard working webmasters and SEO experts, in the end it’s the best thing for one and all.
For the time being, what the SEO pro should be doing is keeping a tab on this Google Local Business Cards new feature. Use keywords your sites use and see what happens in the search results. This will allow you to practice your keyword research and more to better take advantage of this new feature when it becomes available to other businesses that are web based. If you have local brick and mortar clients, then jump on this opportunity now. Don’t wait, ask for acceptance by Google and if approved, do the best job you can and wait for the results. Each and every statistic will be valuable in this process so don’t let an hour or day go by where you don’t analyze your statistics. You’ll be ahead of everyone else so that when this option goes live, you’ll be able to let your clients know you were on the ground floor and as an SEO pro, can better accommodate them to get their sites indexed professionally.
Overall, Google is doing this to make the search experience more efficient and trouble free. This bodes good for one and all and if successful, you’ll need to be on the ball to best utilize it.