The first of September saw, reportedly, a major update to local search results. The SEO community has named the update Possum, or “Pungråtta” in Swedish.
Search Engine Land discusses changes in local search results, where the search engine has become smarter in several ways. Firstly, Google has likely made local SEO much more important by making the searcher’s physical location far more significant. We’ve noticed this ourselves at the office in Örnsköldsvik, as the method we previously used to quickly get an overview of search results in Stockholm has now stopped working (partially).
We previously used a mobile data subscription that sent traffic through Stockholm in order to view local results in the capital. The subscription, which still follows the same route, suddenly started showing Övik results. In a clever way, one might think, Google had somehow figured out that we were located in Örnsköldsvik. If anyone knows more about this phenomenon, we would gladly appreciate the information.
The second major change, according to Search Engine Land, is that we are no longer as limited to exact areas. Businesses just outside the area where a search was made have gained an increase in traffic where they previously had to relocate in order to capture visitors.
As mentioned, Google itself did not choose the name, but it comes from SEO professionals who have discussed the issue. Perhaps Google will give it a different name later on, similar to what happened with the Farmers Update, which later became Panda. Possum works quite well in the USA, but the Swedish equivalent, Pungråtta?
Magnus Bråth
CEO
Magnus is one of the world's most prominent search marketing specialists and primarily works with management and strategy at his agency Brath AB.