Google launched a new product called Google Places last week, a mini-profile page for local business listings that aggregates address, phone number, site URL, maps, directions, photos and reviews all on one page. The problem is that Google quietly began indexing these aggregator pages. The risk is that, because this content resides within Google, it can prefer them in its search results pages over non-Google content (think: Yelp, CitySearch, YellowPages, etc.).
In a literal sense, your search for that restaurant and movie need never involve a non-Google page:
When you click on a pin for a local business or place of interest on Google Maps a bubble will open up, and if you click “more info” sometimes it will take you to the Google Places page. So far, so good. Google Places is simply making Google Maps better, right?
The concerns arise, however, back on Google’s main search page, where Google is indexing these Places pages. Since Google controls its own search index, it can push Google Places more prominently if it so desires. There isn’t a heck of a lot of evidence that Google is doing this yet, but the mere fact that Google is indexing these Places pages has the SEO world in a tizzy.
Google has since added disallow tags to these pages to remove them from its search index, and has confirmed that it did not intend for these pages to appear in organic search results. While reassuring, this shows just how vulnerable all sites have become on the decisions made within the Googleplex. It is in this context that the rise of alternate search engines like Microsoft’s Bing is a welcome sign that competition may be returning to search. If true, this can only benefit businesses who do not want their economic future determined solely by the actions of a single player.
via With Google Places, Concerns Rise That Google Just Wants To Link To Its Own Content .
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