Back in August, Google decided to roll out update to how it displays local results by removing all 7-packs and moving exclusively to mobile-optimized 3-packs.
Afterwords, it seemed that the 3-packs were now consistently ranked in the top spot (paid ads were still above those, but of course, we’re talking about organic results here) for all Google search that produced local results. Apparently, this didn’t sit well with Local SEOs:
“GOOGLE LOCAL PACK PLACEMENT CHANGE CAUSES STEEP DECLINE IN ORGANIC BRAND CTR“
By the look of things, quite a lot of people overreacted to the situation, as many people do when there’s a fairly dramatic change in things that they’re used to.
Although it appeared that the update rolled out back in August, it had actually been rolling out since last summer’s Pigeon update.
In a post by Andrew Shotland, the question, “Should local search marketers be worried about Google’s new local display format in SERPs?” is asked. Andrew has decided to answer this question by taking a look at the impact of the new 3-packs from multiple angles. What will he find?
To find out, check out Andrew’s post by following the link provided below.
Search Engine Land: Google Switched To Local 3-Packs: Is There Cause For Alarm?