Official Google Blog: Google becomes more local but they don't talk about the fact that this is really only shown for certain geographic regions - definitely US and UK. Local results also came up when I searched for 'restaurants munich', 'restaurants paris' and 'restaurants prague'; but not for 'restaurants dublin' (or 'restaurants lisbon')
At Search Enging Strategies London I asked a Google employee taking part in a session on Blogs and Feeds (this area being relevant to the local searches because of the ability to add product feeds into these local searches) when the service would be used more outside the US and UK - Ireland exactly? She said that it is not a priority and there is no proposed timing for it.
I get really frustrated hearing all the hype about Local Search, but not really getting the effects of it for Ireland - for personal and professional reaons.
Is it too much to ask Google to at least be aware of this fact in their blog posts and other articles so that they note exactly where these features are available and where they are not?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Local SEO is still being applied at a country level within Ireland. I am sure most of the results for "restaurants ireland" are hosted in ireland, may have the .ie TLD (although i know that isnt a big deal) and have local links.
Do you mean at a city level ?
Would this make much of a difference at a city level. Applying local seo factors in the US where states are the same size as ireland makes sense. But doing this in Ireland, I dunno, I can see why its not a priority for them.
As with most of Googles roll outs, it will eventually come to Ireland (as Google Suggest did recently), it will just take time ..
By the way, I am suprised a Google employee told you that. They usually don't divulge much info ..
Kieran, I meant where the Google search results begin with "Local Business Results" where Local Business Centre information is provided. You'll see it in action if you follow the link at the beginning of my post to Google's own post on it (which I am responding to in this post).
Maile Ohye (Senior Developer Programs Engineer, Google), she called herself the head Google Blogger, made that comment in a session "SEO through Blogs and Feeds" at Search Engine Strategies in London in February. Google employees do regularly participate in such conferences and give certain information. There was a lot that she could not comment on, but that she did.
Users in all locations do now get results fed based on their location (via the IP address), but it is the specific Local Search results that I was commenting on.
Seeing that their European base is in Dublin, I thought perhaps that'd make Ireland a priority :-)
I do still recommend to my clients to submit their details to the Local Business Centre as it does come up in some searches and then they will also be ready when it does roll out here.
aahhhh sorry Ann, was too quick off the mark without actually reading the post properly. I was reading about Local Business Results on Webpronews at the weekend, really interesting stuff.
Yeah you are right on this one ... good point well made :)
Thanks Kieran, I guess if there is a positive point in it coming later to Ireland is that we have time to see how it works for other regions and get our clients listed well for when it does roll out here. Watch this space :-)
I recommend VADLO Search Engine and its cartoons!
Looks like Local Search may have hit Ireland a few hours ago from what I am seeing...
I noticed this myself yesterday when doing some research for a client. We better get ourselves and clients listed in the Local Business Center! All the new search options on Google are going to make search more interesting -- at least for SEOs to try to find ways to do best when searchers do use the options.
Post a Comment