New Local Search Results Appearance/Rankings?

[TriMarkDigital]

Hi everybody!

My team and I are all noticing a new layout for local search results. We just noticed it today. Mobile and desktop results appear to be affected. Specifically, we are looking at searches like "event spaces in Richmond" and "restaurants in Raleigh" as 2 examples. The listings appear differently in the SERPs, and the top results really are not relevant to the search queries.

Is anybody noticing anything similar, or does anyone have any insight into whether this is something Google is testing or if it's here to stay? Also, any advice for overcoming rankings drops as a result of these changes?

Thanks in advance!

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Rachel,

From the search queries you are making, I am taking a guess that you are referring to the new Hamburger-pak, or whatever folks want to call this Please, feel free to share a screenshot, but my best guess is that this is what you are talking about:

http://blumenthals.com/blog/2014/11/16/some-thoughts-on-the-new-pak-results-from-google/

Yea or nay?

[TriMarkDigital]

Yes, that's what we are seeing! These are the first couple of queries in which we are noticing this sort of search result.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Rachel,

So glad I was able to identify this for you. It's a few weeks old now, so you should be able to find a ton of articles about it. Mike Blumenthal tends to offer some of the best insight on this topic, so check out his blog. You might looks this up on Linda Buquet's Local Search Forum as well. Hope this helps!