Google To Put Ads in Local List - Is This Crazy or What?

Get Ready For Some More Craziness - Google Local Ads

Google will be rolling out Ads in the local "3 pack results". Soon you will see four ads on the top of Google, then, you'll scroll to the maps where you will see one ad. Then, there will only be two normal local listings. This year, it literally went from seven business being listed, to three business being listed and soon we may see it go to two business being listed. What this means, if you are number one or two, you are going to see a crazy amount of business. If, you are number three, you will see a decline in leads. This has several major positive and negative consequences. Let's talk about those.

***Please note, we are not positive exactly what this will look like but we are going over what the most likely roll out might look like. Google "san francisco plumbers" and you will see Google beta testing for their Google certified businesses and no local listings at all. It's crazy where this is going.***

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A Few Positives:

First off, if your business already has a big focus on AdWords but you're not doing so well with your local rankings, this will have a major positive. And, if you have great local reviews, you are probably going to do very well in the ad section.

Secondly, if you are number one or two on the Google local results, you are going to see a spike in new business because you've just lost one "non-ad" competitor. You are now one of two options to the consumer who doesn't click on ads. The key here, and to all local success, is to have lots of really great reviews. Have all of your happy clients review you. It's hard. It's like pulling nails. Even if it's your best client that you drink beers every Friday night, getting them to review you takes class, precision and persistence. 

A Few Negatives

First, if you are currently number three in the Google three pack, you are going to see a decline in new business. Simply put, human beings are creatures of convenience. If they have to click "see more" to find you, the majority of people are going to.

Second, SEO is going to get a lot more expensive and is going to get a lot harder to find a company that can pull off getting you into the top two spots. Once the seven pack went to a three pack (It used to be seven businesses that showed up on the local results), all SEO companies charging under $1000 a month became a complete waste of money. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of $500-$1000 a month still alive and well but they haven't been getting anyone into the three pack. And I'm sure there are some exceptions when we're talking low competition and/or black haters that haven't been slapped by Google yet. 

My Theory on The Whole Thing

If you're still reading, than I suppose your paying enough attention to hear me out on my little conspiracy theory. 

The Old Seven Pack: Google used to have a "seven pack". This meant, if you were a good company, had awesome reviews and had a half decent SEO company, you were getting business.

The New Thee Pack: This was a move to bring a little pain to everyone not in the top three. You see, number four through seven where getting some level of business. Once the three pack hit, that lose of business was felt. Many companies started investing more money to get into the top three spots. However, still only three out of those seven are able to take those spots. That left tens of thousands of businesses desperate to show up locally but unable to.

The Future Pack: This is where Google AdWords comes in to save the day for all of those poor companies that lost out when the local pack went from seven to three. Now those companies can simply pay Google to be one of the results. You better believe local business are going to be dropping tons of money to get on the maps using AdWords.

The Conspiracy: Google hit $75 billion in revenue last year. I'm sure they have their eyes on the $100 billion mark and this was a long laid out plan to slowly get both the Google user and the local business ready to buy into all the new ads. It was slow, systematic, and brilliant. I believe, Google will be very successful with this and for that I applaud them. 

As For Me and My Customers

We are a big fan of creating short-term, mid-term and long-term lead goals. This means that for all of our new local clients, we can get them even more immediate leads while we are working them to one of the top two spots in the Future Google Local pack. I, for one, am excited.

The Internet Marketing Industry's Response

Local SEO companies are hating this. They are complaining about what a horrible user experience it will be. Which I kind of agree with but not a ton. SEM/PPC companies are super pumped and excited to roll this new product out and increase their client's ad spends, and their management fees with it. 

The Consumers Response:

This is yet to be seen. Will the normal Google user even notice? There are several agencies that are quickly working on some polls to see what average consumers think about Google adding even more ads. 

Versus Yahoo and Bing

If you are saying "I'll just go to Yahoo or Bing then!" Well, Yahoo and Bing are worse so you are kind of left with Google being the best option. Plus, they just give better organic results. 

Please Share Your Thoughts

Please share your thoughts on the whole thing. No matter how short or long. It doesn't even have to be super insightful. It could be as simple as "I hate Google" or "This is Awesome!"