I hope this is the right spot to be posting this, my apologies if it is not
Given a the search term: “Wedding Invitations Toronto”
The PLACES box that provides users with LOCAL businesses based on the users current GPS/IP location does show up, which is great!
When doing a more refined search term of “wedding invitation” - it does NOT provide the user with the same possible local business map results. The map results always showed up in the past - I only noticed recently this has changed :(.
Now the issue does NOT happen with other types of vendors in the “wedding industry”. So searching terms like “wedding planners”, “wedding photographers”, “wedding officiants”, etc… So in all instances WITHOUT having to put the CITY name, will provide the LOCAL PLACES map results.
I think it makes sense that MAP RESULTS should always show up, as it will highlight LOCAL businesses for the person doing the search without having to specify the city they are standing in.
In my case, someone currently searching for “wedding invitations” (without the City) is given 2 pages of regular results for “big name ONLINE” options. Local business results don’t start showing up until the 3rd page.
“Welcome to Connect! If this is your first visit, you’ve come to the right place. This post will serve as a guide for everything you need to know about contributing content and engaging with the Local Guides community on Connect”. This is the first of the information that you will find in “Your guide to Connect” , the introductory Guide of the community. In there you will find all the necessary information to know how to better contribute in here.
How did you make your search? With Google Maps or with a browser (e.g Google Chrome)?
I have no issue in performing a search with Maps , and the search is always done on the area displayed.
If you used a browser, the results may vary, depending on relevance of the place (SEO are doing their best to make some place on the top of the search), and can be relevant to your area only if you gave te permission to the software to use your GPS location.
I’ve tried to perform the same search using Maps, in my area first, than I tried Toronto.
Both search found the business related to the area of the search.
That’s why, if you have to find a business, it is better to use Maps.
Do you have a doubt about how to do something here or in Google Maps? The Help desk is here for you,with a long list of post with detailed indications on how to post.
Which kind of contents we share in the community? What are Connect topics? will give you an explanation
@TysonWong1 Are you on VPN by any chance? I wonder if that affect how search query determine your location. I usually like to put ‘nearby’ at the end to make sure I’m searching locations around where I am.
Searching for “Wedding Invitation” will ONLY yield regular site results - so it does NOT show the PLACES/BUSINESS MAP results that you usually find when searching for a fairly generic term/product.
Searching for “Wedding Invitations TORONTO” will show the PLACES MAP results which I had expected.
The issue ONLY applies to “Wedding Invitations” for some odd reason - other “types” of business in the wedding industry like “Wedding Photographers”, “Wedding Planners” - when searching those keywords will SHOW the PLACES MAP results.
Also wanted to make it clear - this is NOT “Toronto” specific. You could be in any city (at least in North America I think) like Montreal, New York, Vancouver, Los Angeles, etc…
Searching the specific term “Wedding Invitations” will NOT show any PLACES MAP results with local shops.
It will ONLY show up if you include the city name like “Wedding Invitations Toronto”, “Wedding Invitations Montreal”, etc…
The interests of a business owner and a local guide should not be mixed since there can be conflicts of interest. So please delete your account here on Connect should your primary interest be your business.
Thanks for pointing me in that direction. My apologies, I wasn’t sure if I was using the right forum to get attention. I’ve tried my luck there as well, but have yet to receive any response from anyone
I seriously doubt Google Business profile will be able to help you in this, because your issue is related, as you mentioned, to the search in a browser, not in Google Maps. But indeed they will be able to address you about how to improve your visibility in Google Maps.
In this case you to know how the system works and how to improve your ranking in the search, you should visit, and address your question, on the Google Search Help Community
Thanks for your insight. I’m just trying to figure out the right “department or team” to reach at Google My “SEO” is very good with regards to “local” search/results. As I mentioned, it was a recent ‘change’ on how Google displays results that has gravely affected us.
However, even if we are happy to help everyone, this is a community of Local Guides, and to be here to represent a business is against the rules of the Local Guides program.
