Search engines invariably strive to offer users the most pertinent results. One of the most important factors they have explored for several years in their quest to customize the results is location. For instance, if a user is searching for restaurants, he or she probably wants to locate ones in the vicinity, it is assumed. Keeping this in mind, the search engines use location data to display places just nearby.
With passage of time, more and more locally pertinent information has surfaced on the Web, whether it’s a blog post from your hometown or local small business listings. The idea is to help people feel and move like a local wherever they go with the power of search at their fingertips!
Categorized and specific information on places
Now, Google Search is introducing a new, innovative local search result, which will organize the world’s authentic data around places. It will cluster results around specific locations through Place Search. As a result, users can make comparisons and make a decision where to go more easily, say in case one is looking for a happening barbecue restaurant along with live music.
Place Search will make the choice wider and simpler, as the user will get details of unique restaurants with specific information plus relevant Web links. Information will be grouped to make it convenient to fathom and compare. Place Search results will start automatically appearing when Google predicts someone is looking for peculiar local information.
The visitor will see a new link marked for ‘Places’ in the left-hand panel of the relevant results page so he or she can switch to them whenever required. For instance, when you are n New York, you may love to play foosball, but a [foosball] search may not show automatically Place Search results. But you will get the new view on clicking ‘Places’.
Modifications in users’ location setting
Google Search also has shifted users’ location setting to the left-hand panel of the relevant results page. The idea is to make it simpler for people to check and control preferences. They will receive the same locally relevant results even with this new display as before. Importantly, now it is much easier to view location setting and accordingly make changes. A recent Google search post elaborates:
“The aim is to automatically detect the most useful location, but we don’t always get it right – so in some cases you’ll want to change the setting. At other times, you may want to change your location to explore information relevant to another area. Let’s say you’re in Mountain View and you’re making plans to see a movie in San Francisco. You can change your location to ‘SF’ and search for [showtimes] to find movie listings or search for [restaurants].”
The location that users set can get specific, such as a zip code or as generic as an entire country. Of course, more precise settings understandably will yield better search results. To see settings, users will need to click ‘View customizations’ on their results pages. By clicking ‘Change location’ just next to various search results like movie and maps listings, it is possible to modify them. The new interface will be available in over 40 languages.
