GUIDELINE CHANGE - City or Keyword in Places Title Allowed Now

[Travis Van Slooten]

Something doesn't smell right. I'd be very reluctant to go out and make any drastic changes. I know I certainly won't be. This goes against everything Google preaches - "be natural" - so why would they allow this? It just doesn't make sense. I have to believe this will be reversed (once the spammers go to town and the search results go to hell as a result), or adding the descriptor will have little affect on rankings.

Personally, I think it's the latter. If Google is allowing this, it has to be because they feel it will help users quickly determine what the business is about BUT it won't affect your rankings. So the idea that you'd make this change and suddenly see your rankings improve is highly unlikely (IMHO).

I also believe it would be silly to waste your time to change all your citations to include a descriptor to get your NAP to match.

My bottom line take on all of this is go ahead and add a descriptor IF it makes sense to do so (i.e. if it will help the user experience), but don't expect any positive movement in your rankings because of this change. And don't waste your time changing the NAP on your citations! Just my two cents.

Travis

 

[Colan Nielsen]

That's what I'm thinking too. They most likely turned down the dial in the business name as a ranking signal. Or maybe it has always been fairly insignificant.

 

[v_mezoz]

Hi Linda!

Where would you change Title in G+?

Thanks

 

[Travis Van Slooten]

The "title" would be the business name field. You'd add your descriptor there. So if your business name is Joe's Pizza, you might change it to Joe's Pizza Restaurant.

Travis

Hi Linda!

Where would you change Title in G+?

Thanks