Local SEO Just Got A Bit Harder This Week: Google Local

As you may know there have been numerous sightings this week of expanded Google Local results in Google’s Web Search. Previously when Google detected a local search they were displaying 3 Google Local business listings before the organic results, but now they are starting to show ten. So that’s why all those yellow pages CMO’s were screaming and throwing furniture around their offices this week.

Here’s a screenshot of what these new “Tenpack” results look like:

I’ll have some more thoughts on this later but essentially what this means is that any site that was getting a lot of organic referrals from local search terms is likely to find it even more competitive to get these terms in the future.

And on a somewhat related note, Digg.com has apparently changed its system so that it will be harder to game.

So all in all a tough week for those who rely on Local SEO but a great week for those who can figure out how to work within this new reality quickly.