Directories in SERPS

Just came across a new change in how Google show directories such as Thomson Local etc, heres a snippet of a search result using the phrase "Driving School Bradford"

As you can see the listing in the description are now bullet pointed and also has either 30+ items or results 1-20 of 140.

Now so far I’ve played around with a few phrases to see how this will have an impact on local search. So far it’s a balance, however I feel some longer exploration is needed.

The negative is that some directories have jumped up positions due to this, which has pushed other sites down. Personally I don’t think these directories should really rank or they should have a smaller section in the search results called directories. Most directories are pointless as people don’t want to look through even more results just to not actually get what they want. A section on the bottom of the screen, on the right under the AdWords or even on the left would be a more appropriate place for them.

The positive side is with the way the description reads it’s now more useful for the user, they now know it’s a directory and they can decide for themselves if they want to click through or not. This means less competition on page 1. Going back to the search I did, I found at least 3 of these listings meaning that if my client has a good solid page 1 it reduces the competition by 3 which can only be a good thing. Well have to see what happens over the next month if the positive outweighs the negative and how much this will have an impact on local digital marketing.