Google announced this past week that their Local Business Center is becoming Place Pages.  Google Place Pages were launched late last year as another way for businesses to advertise and promote their businesses online. It only makes sense that the two have become one and it is now called Google Places.

Now, you will be able to manage your entire business listing in one location. is doing their best to make it very easy for every business to claim their local business listing.  But it’s much more than just a name change.  Google continues to make real changes to local search on a regular basis.  This is great news for businesses that are active online as you now have more ways to promote your local business.

Here is a recap of the new features.

• Service areas – I told you about this change last month. It allows businesses to show a service area on Google Maps without showing their address.  So if you have a home-based business or a business where you consult at another location, you can now indicate your service area in your listing.
• Advertisement for the 7pack – Want to make your listing stand out?  Google is now allowing that for $25 a month.
• Business photo shoots – With this feature you can include pictures of the interior of your business and post them on your Place Page for potential customers to see.  If you service customers at your business, now you have a new way to show them your business online – think restaurants, coffee shops, etc.
• Coupons and real time updates – Create coupons with real time information on your Place page that customers can print out or display using their smart phone.
• Customized QR Codes – This is a neat little feature that was newly added that allows you to print out a code that is unique to your business and is able to be scanned with some smart phones to take someone directly to your Place Page. You can print it on pretty much anything, like a business card for example. If you’re interested in this feature, it can now be found in your Google Analytics.  If you don’t have Google Analytics then shame on you…but contact us and we’ll get you setup.

• Favorite Places: Google is conducting another round of their Favorite Places program.  Window decals are being mailed to another 50,000 businesses around the U.S. These decals include a QR code that can be scanned with a smartphone to directly view the mobile Place Page for the business to learn more about their great offerings.
• Discreet Links – Google will now allow business owners to add discreet links on their Place Page. By adding a field to the Additional Details section in your Places account and inserting a URL you can now add things like a menu, reservation links, coupons, as well as twitter and Facebook links.

Google continues to roll out enhancements and we expect the trend to continue.  The good news is that they are giving you more beneficial ways to keep your listing fresh and make your business stand out from all the others online. Need help ?  Contact us at WSI Webworks.