Google continues making relevant changes to their algorithm, Google has recently launched
Venice Update, an update that is, without doubt, the most important one in recent years. However, this seems to have gone rather unnoticed in the
SEO market.
Google Venice represents a radical change in how Google sorts the search results. It now does so according to the city or town where the search is done. For some time in the left column of Google we have been able to see our location (f.i. Barcelona). This information is generated automatically by Google capturing your IP. Until 2 weeks ago this information does not affect users' searches and, from anywhere in Spain we all obtained the same results. Therefore, if you searched for "web pages" you obtained the same results in Barcelona or Madrid.
Using geolocation, Google has gone a step forward in its local focus. If we search "web pages", we will get same results in total terms from Barcelona and Madrid. However, the order of how results are shown is dramatically diferent. If you search from Barcelona you will get companies offering website design in Barcelona and in Madrid, companies from Madrid. But the change is deeper still, if you search from a small town or village as Granollers you will also see that the results are local business Granollers. This represents a revolutionary change in the field of online marketing and SEO.
However, this Venice update raises several questions. What happens then for example with those online shop that address an entire country and not have any physical presence? are there enough top web design companies in Granollers to fill the top of Google discarding the results of Barcelona? Some might question the quality of the results.
Finally, it should be noted that this change will have a relevant impact on sales of many companies, some negative but also some positive for others.
