Google Place Result taking over Organic Search Result

[YukiTokuda]

Hey there,

One of our client contacted as stating that their Google ranking dropped. It was originally listed No.2 on the organic search result, but now it shows up only as Google Place instead, and the ranking is lower than before.

Apparently it happens in Japan quite often nowadays, does it happen in your country too? Especially on Google.com? Is it becoming a trend?

[SteveTheWoodsman]

We've had the same problem with several of our clients.  However, if you use rel=author then your Google+ profile will actually increase the position of the main site in the SERPs.

Instructions for setting up rel=author are here: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2539557 

[williammarlow]

There is no question that Google Places (which I believe is now formally called "Google+ Local" pages) are being pushed hard by Google, so I expect to see the trend continue to see these pages rise higher and higher in the rankings. However, could you be more specific about which terms your referring to?  I'm assuming that you are referring to "branded" or "name queries" that are now triggering a Google Places page instead of the original organic listing.  In that case, my recommendation would be that they make sure they have 'claimed' their Google Places (Google+ Local) page, and, once claimed, optimize that result for conversions as best as possible.  You can supplement a Google+ Local page in lots of ways by adding information, links, photos, etc., so it hopefully isn't a huge problem if these pages become more and more prominent, which I personally expect to happen.