GL 2.3.1 Explicit Location – ‘near me’ concept
When there is an explicit location mentioned in the query, you can ignore the user and viewport locations. The user has told you exactly where they want to see results. If the query contains words like “poblíž“ then the user’s location should be considered the explicit location intent.
Query: McDonald’s poblíž User and viewport: User outside fresh viewport
Query is for a fast food brand McDonald’s with the intent close to user location as per GL 2.3.1. Result one is the closest branch to UL therefore relevance is Excellent. Result 2 branch is demoted for distance.
When the location intent is not explicitly stated in the querywe have to use the user location, viewport location and viewport age to determine where the user expects results:
Viewport | User | Location Intent |
Fresh | Inside Viewport | When the user is within a fresh viewport, take the user location as location intent. Results are generally expected in or near the viewport, and results inside the area cannot be rated Bad because of distance alone. |
Outside Viewport | Results are expected in or near the viewport area. All relevant results inside the viewport are eligible for a rating of Excellent. If no results can be found in or near the viewport, consider the user location a secondary location intent. | |
Missing | When the user is missing, the viewport is the location intent. | |
Stale | Inside Viewport | When the viewport is stale, consider only the user location as location intent. |
Outside Viewport | ||
Missing | Use the stale viewport as location intent when the user location is missing. | |
Viewport Age Missing | Present or Missing | Consider the viewport fresh when the viewport age is missing. |
Missing entirely | Present | The user location sets the location intent when the viewport is not present. |
Missing | When the user location and viewport are missing, the test locale becomes the location intent with a strong focus on prominent results. |
Query: poliklinika User and viewport: User inside fresh viewport
Query is for a category. User did not clarify the location intent, thus we have to infer it from viewport and user location. As the user is inside fresh viewport in this example, the results are expected close to the user location.
Result 1-the closest existing result to the user should be rated Excellent.
Result 2 – the result is further away and should be demoted for distance
Result 3 – the result is further away and should be demoted for distance
Generally, the farther away the result is from the area of expected results, the less desirable it becomes. Factors affecting distance include:
Straightforward queries can return unexpected results. A result can partially satisfy a secondary intent due to:
Query: Mladé Buky User and viewport: User inside fresh viewport
Explicit query for a unique locality Mladé Buky, user and viewport are disregarded.
Result 1-MladéBuky– locality fully satisfy the user intent and is eligible for Navigational rating
Result 2 – Random POI – Golf club within the queried locality. This result is neither traffic POI nor internationally prominent, and should be rated Bad for relevance
Result 3 – Transit POI – main bus stop within the queried locality, satisfies a secondary intent.
CSG CZ 4.1 / GL 5.16 Transit Queries
Query: Nádraží Hořovice
User searches for a train station within locality Hořovice. Sometimes it’s not clear whether a query is for a category or a specific business/POI. What first appears to be a category query with a location modifier may lead to a single prominent result which can be rated Navigational.
Due to the ambiguity of these queries, even if there is a Navigational result, the query should still be treated as a potential category query and other results considered relevant.
Train stations outside queried locality Hořovice are demoted for distance. Viewport and user are disregarded, even if fresh
Result 1: This result is the only train station within queried Hořovice, rating is Navigational
Result 2: Returned result is one of the closest train stations to the intended locality therefore as per global GL 5.16.1. (Stockport station example) and also CZ CSGL 4.1 (Nádraží Ostrava example) relevance is demoted to Good. Please also review global GL 10.7.2 for more context.
For queries where the location intent is not explicitly stated in the query, you must infer the location intent from the user’s viewport and the user’s location.
Query: Doubravska 3 Viewport and User: User Outside FVP
Query did not specify a locality and we have only a street address. As the user is outside FVP, we consider FVP to be location intent
Result 1: The closest matching address to the fresh viewport is Doubravská 120/3, Teplice. As there are other matches not significantly far from fresh viewport, this result is rated Excellent.
Result 2: The second closest existing address to FVP therefore relevance is demoted to Good.
Result 3: This street address match is of a similar distance as result 2, thus the rating is also Good:
GL 10.6.3 Chain Business with Location Modifier
There are two types of location modifiers:
Query: Lidl Olomouc User and viewport: viewport fresh,
user inside
Location modifier = Olomouc. When the location modifier is general, results inside the specified location are not demoted for distance. When the location modifier is general, results outside the requested location are demoted based on how many results there are inside it.
Nàmëst \ na Hané »
Result 1: Lidl within city of Olomouc, one of 3 stores within queried locality, rating is Excellent
Result 2: When there are only few locations of a chain business inside the requested area, results that are outside it can still be relevant. Result 2 is Lidl store outside queried Olomouc. As there limited options in queried city, this result is demoted to Good.
Result 3: Same as result 2
Query: Mcdonald´s Zlín náměstí Míru viewport: fresh
When the query includes a specific location modifier, results that satisfy the location intent should not be demoted for distance.
Result 1: Mcdonald´s náměstí Míru 8, Zlín-Since there is a only a single result present in the specified location it should receive a rating of Navigational.
Result 2: Mcdonald´střída 3. Května Zlín-This result does not satisfy the specific location modifier and would not be useful to the user searching only for locations along náměstíMíruand is therefore rated Bad.
GL 10.7.1 Category Query with Location Modifier
If the query contains a location modifier, all results within the specified location should receive the highest possible initial rating of Excellent. Results outside the expected location should be demoted based on their distance from the location modifier and the number of possible real-world results within it. User and viewport location should be disregarded.
Query: Pizza Brno viewport: fresh
With location intent in Brno, all pizza places within this city are eligible for Excellent.
Result 1:Pizzeria in Brno, relevance is rated Excellent
Result 2: If there are many possible Matches within queried locality, results outside are rated bad-Pizzeria in Blansko
When the user types the address query, they mostly expect the same address as result. However, returning a POI or POIs at this address can still be relevant.
Query: Ve Vaňkovce 1 Brno
User either expects queried address or one of multiple businesses here
Result 1:This result is for a business at queried address: Albert hypermaket. As there are multiple businesses at this address, result is rated Excellent.
Should this be a sole business at this address, rating would have been Navigational.