Last week Google redesigned the local business results ten pack, well formerly ten pack. Now it’s a seven pack, but we’ll get into those implications in a bit.

The local business results are the map plus business listings that appear when you search for a product or service local businesses provide. Google figures, since you’re not going to travel to the ends of the earth for carpet cleaning or a dentist, they’ll show you local results along with or often above their national or global search results.

The old local business results ten pack was information rich, but user experience challenged. Take a look below at a screenshot of the former local business results design.

The information on the old local business results is packed together tightly.

The new local business results feel like a breath of fresh air for the weary searcher. You’ll see there’s still a ABC ordering system, though the new results have a map locator icon next to each listing. This makes scanning the listings so much easier. The white space between each listing helps you focus on each one individually. The map sized has increased as well, further separating each listing icon on the map for an easier sense of location.

New local business results.

As you can see the changes also made the entire pack taller. Google compensated by eliminating three of the listings—from ten to seven. Our jump from ninth to fifth on the list when searching for “web design” in Orlando helped us stay in the new pack, though if you’re not in the top seven, you’re no longer on page one. Local search optimization is that much more critical now that this change increased competition for the top seven spots.

Got it, now what?

Is your company or employer in the local search engines? How has it affected you?