(Update, 7/2: the business names seem to be back to normal; see comments section for more detail.)
Dino Basaldella from Sonoma County Web has asked me a puzzling question:
Why do some business that rank #1 in the Google+Local results have names that don’t reflect either their Google+Local names or their title tags?
For example:
The name of the #1 business is “All Phase Concrete.” That’s the name of their Google+Local page.
But that’s not the name that’s showing up in Google’s search results, as you can see. The names that show up for businesses #2-7 exactly match the names of those businesses’ Google+Local pages.
That’s the first oddity: why is the #1 spot treated differently?
The other oddity is it’s not their title tag that’s being shown in Google’s search results – which since late 2010 Google has often used instead of the name of a business’s Google listing. The title tag of the homepage does NOT say “Phase Concrete”:
Nowhere on AllPhaseConcrete.com does it say “Phase Concrete.” The footer reads:
Allphase Concrete
1440 Russel Avenue
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
This isn’t an isolated case. Dino also pointed it out to me about a week ago. You’ll see the same thing if you type in “Santa Rosa automotive repair” or “Orlando automotive repair” (for example) and look at how the #1 listing is named.
I’m stumped as to what’s going on here.
I know about Google’s policy of occasionally modifying how title tags appear in the search results.
But if that’s the case here, I’d like to know why (1) it’s only the #1 spot that seems to be having its title tag displayed in the search results rather than its Google+Local business name, and (2) why it’s being modified in a way that doesn’t make it any more relevant to the search term typed in (e.g. “Santa Rosa concrete service”).
Dino wasn’t signed into his Google account when he noticed this, nor was I when I checked on these results myself.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens if/when a different business is ranked #1, because that business will then probably have its name tinkered-with by Google and the current #1 business will go back to having its Google+Local name displayed in the search results.
—
Have you seen this before? It seems new to me, though maybe I’m missing something.
How do you think Google is generating the business names it displays for these #1 spots, exactly? Can you see any rhyme or reason?
Why only the #1 listing?
Am I just missing something?
If you don’t have any more intel than I do, please speculate!