Google has recently rolled out a major change in the way in which it displays search results. This change affects everyone who is using Google to drive traffic to their website or would like to do so in the future.

Basically Google differentiates between geo-location searches, for example a search “Dentist Sydney” would show up searches in and around the location of the City of Sydney. Google also uses its own data about each user to determine whether a search might be geo-specific. This data includes your web history, your personal settings, etc.

Geo-specific search results are often displayed in a category called Google Places where businesses claim a spot on Google Maps instead of listing their own website.

What are the implications for businesses who are concerned about the visitors they get from Google?

• Google Places has become more important, so if you haven’t claimed your Google Places yet, you shoudl get advice on how to do this as soon as possible
• First page of Google often isn’t good enough anymore, you, your internet marketing advisor or SEO provider should aim to get you in the first three results
• Where necessary your internet marketing advisor or SEO consultant should advise you of alternative ways to get traffic from search engines. This could be through Google Adwords (PPC advertising), or rankings in other search engines through Bing or Yahoo

It’s important to note that Google often makes changes to how it determines search engine rankings – it’s too early at this stage to predict other long-term effects, but if you have a good internet marketing advisor or SEO consultant they should be keeping you up to date with the developments and how they affect you personally.