Ep 127: Google Antitrust case unlikely to change anything, GBP deduping form, Searchers go deep & wide in the SERPS

Part 1 starts 00:13 - Upcoming Google Antitrust case unlikely to change much of anything

Google’s antitrust case is starting next week. Google filed for a summary judgment and some of the issues were decided in their favor. Only two remain; The payment to Apple as the default iPhone search engine and whether Google uses Search Ads 360 to thwart competitors. Even if the case is decided against Google, it is unlikely to change much in the world of search.

Segment Reference Article:

Judge: No evidence Google harmed competitors by limiting search visibility

Part 2 starts 7:05 - GBP support finally introduces a form to dedupe listings in Google Maps

One of the long standing issues in managing large multi-location businesses in Google is the frequent occurrence of duplicate listings and historically, no easy way to get them merged. Now, likely in response to increased European regulations, Google has introduced a simple form to report and hopefully nuke listing duplicates. When combined with a product like Whitespark GPB duplicate notifications there is a real chance that  large multi-location businesses, particularly hospitals and clinics, can actually get their duplicates under control.

Segment Reference Articles:

Deduping GBP Profiles: There's a Form for That!

Whitespark GPB Management

Part 3 starts 13:56 -When searching, consumers consider many results

It has long been thought that the click through curve on the front page of Google was very, very steep with users primarily clicking the #1 result, fewer clicking on 2 and 3 with virtually none going  beyond that. Our behavior research suggests that user behavior is much more complicated than that and that they will often examine 3, 4 or even 10 results if the local decision is important enough.