Google is testing a new map placement for local results. The old placement was in the organic, left hand side, listings, where Google would stick a map for local intent queries. Some are reporting seeing a similar map moved from the organic side to the paid search side, above where the AdWords ads would appear.

Mike Blumenthal posted screens and I have some screens from a reader at the Search Engine Roundtable. Here are some of them:

This one has notes of changes:

One thing I noticed between the two screen shots is that Mike’s shows the local listings in the organic results. The one I posted has organic listings as they are, without them being locally driven or associated with the map at the top right. I suspect, but do not know for sure since I don’t see it, that clicking on the map will shift the organic results on the left to become local results. Again, I need to clarify this with those who see it and I will update my post after.

For more coverage on this see Mike Blumenthal’s blog, the Search Engine Roundtable and Greg Sterling’s blog.

Postscript: A Google spokesperson confirmed this test with me via email:

Yes, this is an experiment with a small number of users that aims to make it faster and easier for people to find businesses and places of interest near them.

Related Topics: Google: Maps & Local

About The Author: Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here. For more background information on Barry, see his full bio over here. See more articles by Barry Schwartz