I suspect you're right, DJ... The problem now is that (1) it simply is not made clear anywhere what those listings mean, and (2) if they are to be premium listings based on some specific criteria, they should be plainly marked as so, which has been Google policy in the past and what has distinguished Google SERPs from other engines in the past.
I think these easily could become premium listings in time. They would be very powerful...basically similar to the top listing in the yellow pages or the largest listing within the yellow pages. I'm very focused on local seo. My business site is a local business with high rankings for the industry in general and for all local descriptions of the industry Red widgets services (lots of 1st page rankings in g, y, and msn for many variations of red widgets Red widget services toronto...Virtually all #1 rankings for that phrase and variations. Red widgets services Toronto is the money phrase. Conversions on searches using all variations on the local phrase are dramatically higher than for generic red widgets services. Being identified at the top of the generic listings with a quick description would be worth tons to me. (we are there now). My business has been in the yellow pages for years. Can't tell you how many have called us off the yellow pages and said "I went down the list of all providers and called them all." Dave
This is precisely why Im thinking that the "Yellow Pages" could be making a comeback. We all know they have been starving for money in the last bunch of years. However, if Google uses this as a means to display its local listings it would be GOLDEN just to have a listing! On another note: maybe im new to these things but why is it Ive started this thread (and many others) yet cant seem to ever get REP points? Is there some magic trick?
Possible. But as I said earlier, the Canadian listings have no rhyme or reason... these aren't premium Yellow Pages listings or anything like that... but they'r not random because the same three show up everytime you do a search on that search term or even related search terms. None of them even have websites.