Google re branded its Local Business Center service and has relaunched it as Google Places, boasting new features and also a new name. Search engine marketing may have been its biggest application on the ‘World’ wide web but for various businesses, the local market is the main focus. Besides from targeting geographic locations and keywords as a part of the overall search optimization (SEO) strategy or focusing PPC ad campaigns by Geo-targeting data, all kinds of businesses – from service providers to retail shops – who rely upon the local market are able to make use of Google’s ability to deliver related results to the users based on more than just the keywords in their query.
Last year, Google had expanded its Maps service – an important part of localized search engine marketing – with the Place Pages feature. By aggregating information related to the businesses listed on Google, automatic content generation algorithms create pages contained a variety of data from across the web. As well as reviews and images, once a business claimed their “place page” they were able to add extra information to attract customers to their location and their services.
These Place Pages are the crux of Google’s new re branding move. With the change of name, Google has been introducing several extra features to the Pages that the company says is “just the beginning of whats to come from our efforts to make Google more local.”
The Service Areas feature permits businesses to show what geographic areas they cover on Google maps; this is mainly useful for the ones who are without a storefront as it allows their service to be listed on maps without their address being made public. A new type of paid marketing is also on offer: “Advertising with tags”. For a monthly fee, businesses in some areas can use tags to highlight their listings on Google Maps and Google.com with tags like “coupons” or other features related to the business. They don’t have any effect on search engine optimization(SEO) but they could surely help with driving conversion.
Last year, Google had expanded its Maps service – an important part of localized search engine marketing – with the Place Pages feature. By aggregating information related to the businesses listed on Google, automatic content generation algorithms create pages contained a variety of data from across the web. As well as reviews and images, once a business claimed their “place page” they were able to add extra information to attract customers to their location and their services.
These Place Pages are the crux of Google’s new re branding move. With the change of name, Google has been introducing several extra features to the Pages that the company says is “just the beginning of whats to come from our efforts to make Google more local.”
The Service Areas feature permits businesses to show what geographic areas they cover on Google maps; this is mainly useful for the ones who are without a storefront as it allows their service to be listed on maps without their address being made public. A new type of paid marketing is also on offer: “Advertising with tags”. For a monthly fee, businesses in some areas can use tags to highlight their listings on Google Maps and Google.com with tags like “coupons” or other features related to the business. They don’t have any effect on search engine optimization(SEO) but they could surely help with driving conversion.
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