Same for me literally today. I know what was closest, but didn’t want to deal with the “recalculating route”, so I decided to ask Google to pick the nearest McDonald’s as an extra stop:
19 minutes detour
4 minutes detour
25 minutes detour
2 minutes detour
At this point, I’m convinced Google only cares about presenting what’s most profitable to them regardless of any sort of convenience to the consumer.
This might be a stretch but McD can be franchised. If one franchisee pays top dollar for ad placement and other nearby franchises don’t, it would be profitable for them to send you to that franchisee even if it’s further.
…that being said I’m probably reading too much into it. Probably just your usual Google jank.
Different locations can have different CPC (cost-per-click) bid configured. Even if you have multiple locations of a business, it’s still managed per site. Different areas also have different CPC rates depending on who is around that location (not including your own businesses). For example, a metropolitan CPC rate is higher than a rural one because so many others compete with you.
That 25 minute one is near a bunch of other stores and I’d bet has a higher CPC rate. The 2 minute one is more isolated.
I checked and that all have about the same rating (3.5), so it shouldn’t have been ranked by that. In the end, Google isn’t picking what’s best for the consumer, and enough to encourage me to go 20 minutes extra out of my way. Them being all the same franchise helps clarify it isn’t an issue of finding a better search term match since they’re all identically labeled the same.
Same for me literally today. I know what was closest, but didn’t want to deal with the “recalculating route”, so I decided to ask Google to pick the nearest McDonald’s as an extra stop:
At this point, I’m convinced Google only cares about presenting what’s most profitable to them regardless of any sort of convenience to the consumer.
It’s too far gone for it to be even usable.
SORT BY BOTTOM_LINEvsSORT BY BESTI’m pretty sure they don’t profit from sending you to another McDonald’s.
how is this profitable for them
This might be a stretch but McD can be franchised. If one franchisee pays top dollar for ad placement and other nearby franchises don’t, it would be profitable for them to send you to that franchisee even if it’s further.
…that being said I’m probably reading too much into it. Probably just your usual Google jank.
Different locations can have different CPC (cost-per-click) bid configured. Even if you have multiple locations of a business, it’s still managed per site. Different areas also have different CPC rates depending on who is around that location (not including your own businesses). For example, a metropolitan CPC rate is higher than a rural one because so many others compete with you.
That 25 minute one is near a bunch of other stores and I’d bet has a higher CPC rate. The 2 minute one is more isolated.
I checked and that all have about the same rating (3.5), so it shouldn’t have been ranked by that. In the end, Google isn’t picking what’s best for the consumer, and enough to encourage me to go 20 minutes extra out of my way. Them being all the same franchise helps clarify it isn’t an issue of finding a better search term match since they’re all identically labeled the same.