Wednesday, 8 August 2012

Google Places Becomes Google+ Local


A recent Business 2 Community article by Steve Masters introduces Google’sdecision to convert Google Places pages into Google+ Local pages.

The Google+ Local interface providesscores, reviews, a map, directions and more.Utilizing the Zagat scoring system, users can give a quality score to a business, which is then adjusted to points. Google Maps plays a valuable part, along with the Google+ interface. In fact, Google+ Local’s functionality hinges on the social network aspect of Google+.

With Google+’s community-like setup, local recommendations from the people you know travel fast and far. If a user in your own circle recommends a law firm, for example, that firm will likely appear high up in your own local search results if you were also searching for a lawyer.

When Google first rolled out Google+ Local, the search engine giant integrated a Local tab in the Google+ interface. Now, the page also comes up in a standard Google search.

However, it’s worth noting that if you’re not logged into Google, you’ll find a bar inviting you to register for or log into Google+. Joining the Google+ social network is imperative if you hope to maximize the benefits of Google+ Local—whether you’re a business owner or a consumer.

Google’s new move has a subtle impact on local SEO, but there are implications that this transition is just the start of more significant changes for SEO in the future. So stay tuned.

Please comment below if you have any questions. For more information, please contact me or visit my website http://www.legalnichepros.com

Michael Waddington
President, Legal Niche Pros, LLC
Attorney at Law
Licensed in GA, SC, PA, & NJ 
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