I've been trying to digest every article I can find about the changes and this is one of the most informative. But it also has the most chilling news for anyone that does LOCAL SEO.

"Google said that the algorithm has been improved and refined for Place Search. We also shouldn’t see any more of the “mapspam” that has plagued the 7-Pack in the past. Previously the local and general search algorithms were distinct. I asked whether they had now been consolidated or merged in this new release and was told “yes.”"

As someone who USED to do regular SEO and now specializes in Google Places optimization, I've gotta tell you this is rocking my world a bit.  The algo is TOTALLY different now for local and very much tied into a client's organic ranking.

I have BOTH results right now. The old on Firefox and the new results on Chrome. So I've been doing major testing back and forth on some of my client's local rankings and what I'm discovering is pretty interesting!  Most of my clients were already page 1 on local and luckily have gone even higher on the new results. But what's interesting is the change in what it's going to take to GET someone to the top from scratch.

Changes are still rolling out and the layout is pretty flaky at times, so I guess we'll have to see where things are at after the dust settles.

I can tell you one thing for sure though. Anyone like me, who has a purely LOCAL optimization business will quickly have to switch gears, adjust their business model/service offering and re-think their entire optimization strategy.

However, with change comes opportunity!  My mind is reeling with possibilities.  :-)

Linda

Yes Linda - agreed. Traditional SEO is much more important now in local than it's been for some time.