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January 30, 2007

Google Local OneBox Gets Bigger

Google updated their local OneBox, by adding a static map and links where you can find more information about each business. This is the old OneBox:


... and this is the new one:


Google realized that not many people use Google Maps to find local businesses. Most people search on google.com, but standard web search results aren't suitable for these kinds of queries, because not every site is connected with a local business and because web pages don't contain structured data (address, company profile etc.)

Google also updated the Maps OneBox and started to include the addresses of local businesses in web search results.

Of course, most of these changes are available only for the US and a small list of other countries: Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain.

5 comments:

  1. The changes are also available in Google China.

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  2. It's too bad they are static maps. I'd like to be able to drag the map around to find nearby streets, etc.

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  3. It seems to me that this service isn't available in Germany at all (yet).

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  4. Google Local has data about Germany, so if you search for [pizza in Stuttgart] you'll get 3 results. Google Germany shows the old OneBox, but Google.com has the new layout.

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  5. i never noticed that at any time on google.ie....seems to often be descrepancies between google services and regions...

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