Goodbye Google Places Hello Google Plus Local

Google announced Wednesday that Google Plus and renowned restaurant reviewer Zagat havecombined forces to introduce the new Google Plus Local. In the grand scheme of things this isa fairly significant announcement as it relates to businesses trying to rank locally.

Before we get into Google Plus Local it helps to draw a picture of where Google is heading withlocal.

Google made a conscious decision back in 2010 to shift their attention and massive R&D scaletoward local search. This began with the Place Search change which basically equated to amajor facelift and some rather complex back end changes to their local search algorithm.

After the flop of Google Buzz and Wave a couple of halfhearted attempts to enter into the socialmedia space Google regrouped and Google Plus was born. And trust me Google was notabout to lose any further ground on Facebook with another dud. Google Plus was designatedthe corporate-wide golden child mandated to get full attention until deemed a success. Furthermore Google’s intention was to make Google Plus a centerpiece by building current andfuture products around it with the goal of creating a single seamless web experience.

We’re calling this the Google+ project for a reason. It’s not a monolithic product. This isa project and when we say “project” we mean it’s much broader in scope. This issomething that will impact Google.

Okay so what is Google Plus Local? Well given the fact that Zagat is known for restaurantreviews one may surmise it involves only eateries. Well that’s certainly a large part of it but notquite the whole picture. This will affect other products and services that are available locally.

From the new “Local” icon on the left-hand side of Google+ you can search for specificplaces or browse for ones that fit your mood. Clicking on any place will take you to alocal Google+ page that includes photos Zagat’s high-quality scores and summariesreviews from people in your circles and other information like address and openinghours.

Google+ Local is also integrated across the other products you already use every dayincluding Search Maps and mobile so you can get the same great local informationwherever you go.

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You can see how this change positively affectedour client Garmo & Kiste in the screen shot to the left [click to enlarge]. You can clearly seethe adopted 30/30 Zagat rating scale which gives them a huge advantage. Why? Becausethey take the time to collect reviews from their clients and optimize their site. You don’t thinkthis has an effect on Click Through rates? You bet it does and these changes will continue toevolve and affect the local search landscape. And to encourage people to use their goldenchild further Google moved reviews from Places to… you guessed it Google Plus. There is amethod behind their madness So as you can see in the next screen shot [click to enlarge] ascore of 30 equates to Extraordinary to Perfection! Wow what a game-changer!

So what does this mean? You need to take action. I have been advocating to my clients thatwe need to embrace the imminent changes that social media has on their business. Socialmedia in general will intertwine and massively affect organic search so much that you can nolonger simply ignore. Google and Bing even formally announced they use social signals forrankings. Starting in 2012 CSE Web Solutions offers custom Google Plus page design andaccount management incorporated into the SEO packages. At a bare minimum you need tocreate a Google Plus account and establish a plan to include it into your overall inboundmarketing program.

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So it’s goodbye Google Places and hello Google Plus Local. Google Plus will no doubt be thewave of the future (no pun intended) for Google. Invest in social media marketing now and getahead of your competitors that lag behind. It’s a move you won’t be sorry making. There ismuch more to this story than what I’ve touched on here so look for updates on this topic verysoon.Visit http://www.csewebsolutions.com to learn how you can increase customers from theInternet!

Goodbye Google Places Hello Google Plus Local

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