Low Density Geos Give Us A Peak At The Algo

[Andrew Shotland]

Check out this result for "Chemurgic, CA veterinarian"

1. The city or whatever it's classified as (Chemurgic, CA) has very few businesses
2. Google may not be confident this is a true local search (no local packs)
3. G defaults to a business that seems to have the right combination of words (almost) but is clearly not a vet. My guess is this is the "local" part of the organic algorithm at work. It's something like "If no GBPs within 5 miles of city that match the query, show sites/URLs with address in city + as many relevant words as possible". Address + partial matches (e.g. Animal Health Supp.) trumps domain of GBP in matching category > 5 miles away"

 

[JS Girard]

yeah, I saw something a few years ago about how google will try its damnedest to show resulsts when there are none, and those results are usually incredibly bad. I'm honestly not sure there's any insight to be found there otehr than "google should have the tehre-are-very-few-results-for-this-query warning a lot more often."

 

[JS Girard]

Here's a fascinating result. Google clearly understands it as a local business search because it has "open now" and "best reviewed" as refinement options. However, not a single result is for a business.
For the record:

• "open now" puts the local fire department in first position
• Switching to maps does list a couple relevant businesses in nearby cities