We have some more big changes happening in the local space for Google local business listings. Over the course of the day Thursday, Google began switching over the usual 7-pack local listings to all 3-pack, AKA Snack Pack local results. This means that instead of showing 7 businesses in the pack and in the map, those spots are now only available to 3 businesses.
7-Packs Now 3-Packs
Mike Blumenthal was the first to notice the usual 7-packs had dropped down to only 3. The move to 3-packs rolled out throughout the day yesterday. And in an unusual move for local, Google launched this change both in the US and internationally at once.
Exact Addresses Removed
Google has also removed specific addresses from the snack pack listings, instead only listing the street name. This requires a searcher to either click through to the website or the map listing in order to get the exact address.
Phone Numbers Removed
Searchers will no longer have easy access to the phone number of the business. They now need to click through the listing or get the number from the website. The mobile version (detailed below) doesn’t display the phone number but does have a “Call” option for each listing.
Google+ Links Removed
Also removed are the Google+ links we have all become familiar with. Because Google has pushed for local businesses to claim their page officially, this change is pretty interesting.
Store Hours Added
They have also added in store hours, including opening and closing times, depending on the time of day of the search.
Reviews No Longer Labelled “Google Reviews”
Gone are the labels on the reviews listing them as “Google Reviews.” Now they are simply called “reviews” with the number of reviews for each business still included.
No Flyouts
We are used to being able to scroll over local listings to see the local card for the business displayed on the right hand side. This no longer happens, to see the “Card”, you have to click through to the secondary local page.
Where Clicks Go
When a user does click through to a listing on any place other than the “Website” link, searchers will see additional local listings and the map. There are 20 local listings per page, and users can click through to see additional ones.
The card on the right is similar to what we normally would have seen as the flyout on the search results page.
How it Looks on Mobile
Mobile also sees the complete address moved, with “Call” being the notable option here.
For comparison, here is how it used to look as a 7-pack, for the same local search.
You can see the full address, the Google+ page and the reviews.
And here is the identical search now:
Mozcast
We started seeing the snack packs early this morning, and Mozcast data seems to have caught the very beginning of the changeover, with the drop in 7 packs and the rise of snack packs.
And here is what today’s Mozcast looks like.
The 7-pack is listed at o% while local snack packs are at 14.3%, an increase of 427% since yesterday.
Two varieties of Newer Packs
Dr. Pete Meyers from Moz mentioned that he is seeing two types of new packs, but they are both currently combined.
@jenstar Unfortunately, my data is currently combining both varieties of newer packs, which are subtlely different. Old packs are gone.
— Dr. Pete Meyers (@dr_pete) August 7, 2015
With so many businesses used to being featured in a 7-pack that are now completely removed with the 3-pack, we are going to see a lot more competition for those 3 spots, and potentially more spam or negative SEO attempts as a way to compensate for this.
This is a huge shakeup for local. I have reached out to Google and will update when I hear back.
Added: Here is a thread on the Local Search Forums on the changes.
Added: Here is a quote from a Google spokesperson on the new local changes.
We are constantly exploring the best way to bring a better search experience to our users. This update provides people with more relevant information, including photos, reviews and prices, for searches that have multiple results for a given location.
Jennifer Slegg
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Nathan Veenstra says
Interesting how you got mobile results without a full address. In the Netherlands, the mobile version of the Local Stack DOES still show a full address…
Blaine Peakall says
On mobile there is now no direct way to get to the website from the snackpack results. Clicking the link takes you to the G+ page and then you have to click again to get through to the destination website.
Michael Sosnowski says
I have always been disappointed in the 7-PAK, primarily because the best websites were not being featured. It was very possible to have the most content, most G reviews, best organic results and still not appear in the PAK. Maybe reducing the entries in the results will help overall organic search – as well as push more paid advertising.
John Varnedore says
The new secondary clicks will highlight the Business View Tours to be renamed Street View Tours shortly. You’ll notice for those who are participating in this program the inside view, outside view and photos thumbnails are from the program. Still trying to figure out the schizophrenia about the Google Plus page.
David Tibbs says
Just Google driving businesses to use Adwords.. Its about profit not local businesses welfare.
Todd says
I think this is a really good move by Google. What they seem to be doing is making searchers click through to the sites (good for your traffic and SEO, surely) and it also gives them a better idea who is getting more interest and interaction from the map listings as before I doubt they had hard evidence as most would just call from the search listing without going to the site (unless of course you’re on mobile and clicked the number).
Interesting about the Google+ Page link though. More signs they’re retiring it? Who knows…
tj says
You couldn’t be farther from the truth!!
Ian Brown says
Reference: “3-Pack Only, 7-Pack Removed; Addresses & Phone Numbers Gone”
Google by its last action of removing the 7 pack along with names, addresses and phone numbers have shown themselves to be not only selfish but also completely uncaring. This dramatic change has destroyed many worthwhile as deserving businesses. Their approach of taking only a small slice of a city’s map and then displaying as being representative of the total area of a city beggars believe.
This clearly shows that businesses can no longer TRUST Google and invest money and time in developing an internet based business model.
How many businesses both small and large who have worked and invested for years to get some worthwhile internet presence have had it destroyed over night?
You discuss me Google.
The resounding message from this is DON”T TRUST GOOGLE.
I just hope that somehow someone from Google gets to read this post and they rethink what they have done!
rob says
Regarding “where clicks go” – when a user clicks on the “website” link button, what is this traffic attributed as in analytics when it hits the respective website? Organic? Direct? Referral?
Thanks
rob says
Edit – as a follow up – my main interaction with this new form of 3 pack is via hotel search query results. For which there isn’t an immediate “Website” link in the SERPs. The user is only gets that option to visit the hotel website once the local pack listing is clicked and the user is taken through to hotel finder. From here, i’m not wholly convinced the click through via the “website” click is attributed as organic. Would love to know if you have any insight.
Thanks,