Google announced a new feature to search that will yield upcoming concerts as part of search results. The company detailed the new SERP element on its Inside Search blog on Thursday, saying the data is aggregated from several different websites.
Kavi Goel, a Google search product manager, said that his own experience as a frequent concert-goer was among the motivations for developing the feature. Music fans turn to Google to find information about where they can hear new artists all the time, and providing an option for these users to find concert dates directly on SERPs will make it easier. The feature also makes it important for entertainment industry marketers trying to gain search visibility to consider how they can plan content for SEO efforts to avoid losing page one presence if results are pushed down to make way for concert info.
The concert date results will appear under a given band’s official website or whichever result appears first organically on the page. Users with location settings enabled (or, rather, not disabled) will benefit most from the feature, as the results will be tailored to their locations. While some users have expressed concern over the use of that data in their search results, this is just one of the steps Google is taking to demonstrate the value of its custom search service.
According to Goel, the feature is now available for all Google English-language users, and the company will roll it out to other languages over time.
Brafton reported on Thursday that the use of location-based data to customize results is among the major concerns voiced by the National Association of Attorneys General in a letter sent to Google regarding its new privacy policy. Thirty-six attorneys general from around the United States signed the letter.
