Recently, Google added snippets from reviews into the Local Business Center in a way that only Google can do. On the profile, Google chooses amazingly helpful portions of reviews and posts them. Parallel to the moderately recent addition of rich snippets into search results with reviews and other information via microformats, Google has taken the rich review snippets to a new level. Reviews about certain aspects of a business are now grouped together and an overall rating per category is calculated. In the sushi example below, Google broke down reviews by the food and the service. As a user, this information is fantastically useful as most people care more about certain things than others, take a look.
By Derek McKenzie · January 15 2010
google, google maps, rich snippets, reviews
As Google continues to integrate the local map results into the main SERPs, the more valuable a strong local profile becomes. Google Maps and the Local Business Center are also much easier to work with than standard search results as they are much more transparent in their rankings. With the recent implementation of “place pages,” the local search arena just got better. Instead of just businesses Google seems to be indexing “places,” and just like local businesses, these places are being ranked. These “places” also look just like the local business listings, the query “millennium park Chicago, il” brings us that familiar onebox business, now place, listing.
By Derek McKenzie · November 28 2009
google, google maps, local business center, chicago
