Select Language:
Images from Google Maps showing local restaurants are now appearing directly in Google search results for queries like “restaurants near me.” When users click on these results, they are redirected to the Google Maps interface, displaying nearby dining options. This indicates that Google Search is indexing and ranking Google Maps search result pages for certain local queries—a behavior that might be unintentional, given Google’s longstanding policy to prevent search results pages from being indexed.
This phenomenon was first identified by Khushal Bherwani, who shared examples on social media. He demonstrated that performing a “restaurants near me” search in Google could lead you directly to a Google Maps search results page within the main search interface.
Brehwani’s observations suggest that Google might be allowing these Maps search pages to rank in search results, which deviates from traditional indexing policies. Similar insights were shared by Brodie Clark, who noted that Google appears to be indexing thousands of map result pages, gaining high rankings on the first page for searches like “pharmacy near me” and “dentist near me.”
Many in the SEO community believe this could be a bug or an unintentional side effect of recent changes in Google’s search or indexing algorithms. Discussion about this issue is ongoing among industry professionals, raising questions about Google’s indexing policies concerning localized map results.
Add us on ChatGPT
Add us on Perplexity
