14 DAY TRIAL // The ‘local’ web promises to be the next big frontier for anything having to do with search, advertising and all manner of other services. Google obviously wants to own the ‘local’ space as well and has been making several big moves in this area. The most recent is the new Google Places, or rather, the old Google Local Business Center with a new, more obvious name. Along with the name, the service has also gotten several new features to enable small businesses to have a better online presence.
The name makes a lot of sense when you consider the recently launched Google Place Pages that it has been pushing for a few months. “Millions of people use Google every day to find places in the real world, and we want to better connect Place Pages – the way that businesses are being found today – with the tool that enables business owners to manage their presence on Google,” Google says.
There’s more to it than just a rebranding. Businesses will now be able to specify the area they serve, in the Places Dashboard, a very useful piece of info. It enables potential customers to know if they can be helped and it aids Google in providing the info to just the people within that area. Businesses will also be able to claim their very own QR codes that users will then be able to scan to easily get the business’ Place Page.
The Enhanced listings feature has been renamed Tags and, for $25 a month, businesses will be able to highlight their entries in the regular listings, in search or on Google Maps. Finally, Google is confirming an interesting, new feature that was rumored before. It calls it Business Photos and it’s a free service that adds interior photos of the location on Google Place Pages.