Google Removing Web Design from Local Search Results

by Dan Korvas

Happy New Year, unless you are a web design or SEO company, that is. Recent talk on the internet has led Google to denounce these two industries and remove their listings from the local results when searching for a web design or SEO agency. Take a look for yourself, search for "web design Seattle" or "SEO Seattle" and see what happens. All you get is a standard result, no maps, no priority results as you would get while searching for anything else with a local value. However, make a search for "web design IN Seattle" and see what you get.

Apparently, Google is a web design company as well.

So what gives? Why lockout members of these two industries which make their living thanks to the search engine results? It doesn't make sense, these are just as relevant as other local services people want and use on a daily basis. Granted, being local to a potential client isn't 100% necessary, but you can't argue that it helps put a client more at ease from a reachability standpoint. Of course, Google won't fully disclose as to why they have taken this route and continues to let everyone think that they are constantly working to improve search results for the general public.