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Recently it’s come to our attention that Google has rolled out a global change to the now defunct 7-Pack. If you’re not sure of what the 7-Pack is, what we are referring to is the list of seven local companies that appeared in Google search results directly beneath the Google ads.
The aim of Apex Digital, through a variety of SEO techniques and strategies, is to see our clients breach the 7-Pack which results in increased visibility. It goes without much explanation that those results found lower down the page (and over on page two and beyond) receive less visits for a particular search phrase than those at the top of page one.
What Google has now done is reduced the 7-Pack to a 3-Pack. This is great news for those three businesses within the pack, as they now have less competition (visually) than previous. Those businesses ranked four-seven in the pack are now relegated back to the traditional ‘organic’ results on a page by page basis.
But that’s not all…
Not just content with whittling down the 7-Pack to a 3-Pack, a number of other changes have also been made. For an in depth discussion around the changes, refer to Jennifer Slegg’s article Google Local Shakeup: 3-Pack Only, 7-Pack Removed; Addresses & Phone Numbers Gone.
Some of the more important changes made include:
The most interesting change potentially with all those made is the removal of the Google+ links, especially since the verification and claim process for a business page has been Google advocated for some time now.
So what does the Pack look like?
We’ll if you searched “online marketing new plymouth”, previously the 7-Pack looked like this.
Now the Pack has obviously dropped to three businesses and looks like this (as at 13/08/15)
While on the surface of it, these changes don’t seem too significant, it is the user behaviour that may become unstuck – or significantly different.
Where the previous intention from Google had been to drive traffic to the individual webpages (via the 7-Pack results – and you could claim that they still are considering you need to access websites for additional information i.e. physical addresses, phone numbers), Google have actually implemented an additional step in accessing 3-Pack results. Rather than take you directly to the business of choice, Google takes you to Google’s Local Finder. Here you are presented with 20 local listings, the overview of the 3-Pack business you selected and a Google map with location marker of the business. From this page you are able to view all the information that was present in the 7-Pack prior to the change with the addition of directions.
This is what you’ll see:
Whether this changes user behaviours or potentially just annoys some users is yet to be seen. Rather than use this offering, Google may find users flock to the organic results instead as a more user-friendly alternative. And with an element of skepticism, how long would it be before we see AdWords sneak onto this page?
So what does this mean for you?
It means that it is now as important as ever to ensure that your site is developed and set-up to maximum efficiency in terms of SEO. We’re still advocating the creation of top quality and frequent content provision, chasing Google+ reviews and ensuring your site is appropriately indexed.
What it does mean is that if you’re ranked fourth or lower in the search rankings for your keywords, it’s vital that you take action now and look at every possible option to get into the top 3 (and legitimately using a white hat approach).
It’s important to note that you may never crack the 3-Pack for certain search criteria – there may be a significant amount of competition for particular keywords, advertising budgets of the competitors maybe significantly larger and/or there are some entities that are viewed as the ‘authority’ of a particular search result so you’ll never feature (unless you become the leader in a particular field).
The upside though is that there is now more space for more organic results on page one. What you would expect is that with four less in the Pack, by reason we could assume an additional four entries (minimum, since we’ve actually reduced the amount of content in the individual Pack results) could be provided on page one of the SERP.
If you want to discuss your options further, give us a call or drop in for a coffee to speak to us and see how we can help manoeuvre you into the 3-Pack or up the organic search results.
Image sourced from http://www.cio.com.au/blog/leadership/2011/11/07/executive-tenure-and-shifting-goalposts/
We aim to respond to all messages within 1 business day. You'll be hearing from us soon!
In the meantime, perhaps you'd like to learn more...