I came here to say the same thing. But one of the other comments [1] points out how the "local" listings (Google-owned Zagat) or maps are actually Google's curated business listings, not the business' website. Same goes for Google shopping, Google books, etc, where in popular categories, Google slurps up all the content.
On the one hand, that does level the playing field, because little guy doesn't need huge website and SEO to compete against big guy. But fundamentally, everyone is now handing over the control of their data to Google. Let's say you change your business hours (and as a potential customer, I do love Google's display of today's business hours) or phone number, how quickly does Google update all that? Probably very quickly, but it's now out of your hands.
And as that comment points out, positioning within those "local" results may be determined by ads (and they are not divided into paid and organic sections)--but we don't always know. Google is definitely trying to blur the line by moving away from the be basic search results listing.
I wanted to add that the problem of organic search results is always going to exist for any sort of business (as in both examples of the original article)--as opposed to information. Let's say I'm searching instead for a performance of Beethoven's 9th. Hopefully, people around the internet are linking to good performances, and Google will show me the "best" one. And it will have ads for ringtones and buying CDs of Beethoven's 9th, which is to be expected. But I can be fairly confident the organic part of the results are meaningful. With local search or business search, there is no such thing--Google is not indexing the real world, just what people put on the web. And when there is money on the line, what people put on the web is designed to make them money (SEO, ads, paid reviews, etc.).
> Let's say you change your business hours (and as a potential customer, I do love Google's display of today's business hours) or phone number, how quickly does Google update all that? Probably very quickly, but it's now out of your hands.
I know several small businesses (hairdressers etc) that have a wrong phone number or other data in Google's "zero click" information. One even has the number of another hairdresser by the same name.
Now while it's nice that people can in theory update their business information using that site (that I myself had never heard of before either), but the reality of the matter is that, even in the 21st century, the modal local business owner just isn't very good with computers and the Internet.
The difference?
The website they get from some (probably also local) webdev company comes with customer support. Google has none.
Wrong or outdated information? One phone-call with a human being and it's fixed.
Try that with Google. They'll be talking to a robot and filling out form after form after form, in no-time. Believe it or not, but "figuring out this Google stuff" probably takes them at least a whole afternoon.
On the one hand, that does level the playing field, because little guy doesn't need huge website and SEO to compete against big guy. But fundamentally, everyone is now handing over the control of their data to Google. Let's say you change your business hours (and as a potential customer, I do love Google's display of today's business hours) or phone number, how quickly does Google update all that? Probably very quickly, but it's now out of your hands.
And as that comment points out, positioning within those "local" results may be determined by ads (and they are not divided into paid and organic sections)--but we don't always know. Google is definitely trying to blur the line by moving away from the be basic search results listing.
I wanted to add that the problem of organic search results is always going to exist for any sort of business (as in both examples of the original article)--as opposed to information. Let's say I'm searching instead for a performance of Beethoven's 9th. Hopefully, people around the internet are linking to good performances, and Google will show me the "best" one. And it will have ads for ringtones and buying CDs of Beethoven's 9th, which is to be expected. But I can be fairly confident the organic part of the results are meaningful. With local search or business search, there is no such thing--Google is not indexing the real world, just what people put on the web. And when there is money on the line, what people put on the web is designed to make them money (SEO, ads, paid reviews, etc.).
[1] akharris: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5972516