More detail around maps downgrades destination trophy lisitings

[Whitey]

In the last couple of days I've noticed that Google has placed 10 / 12 keyword links to popular categories under it's maps on some of the most valuable destination related trophy search terms. For example , most major US cities have major sub districts and major sub categories - and i see it in other major World destinations .

For the user this will cause an improvement in results to what seems to be more refined and popular terms .

Google seems intent on creating further strength in it's geo related content offering to consumers. This could be bad new for sites that used to rely on destination related trophy terms and cannot make the the necessary changes to conform.

Thoughts ? Ideas to creatively take advantage of this ?

[Silvery]

I had been looking at this development as well.

It appeared to me that the hyperlinked keywords were a mix of some of the top search phrases associated with a location, as well as some of the top most-popular places associated with it.

For many place name searches, such as for "Dallas, Texas", will typically return "Restaurants" and "Hotels" as two of the keyword links along with a few local attraction names. However, for a few place name searches I've seen an additional general category phrase listed, too.

As for creatively taking advantage of it, I think you'd have to rank highest for what consumers are searching for in relation to a place name, and also have one of the highest PlaceRank scores within Google Maps for the location.