On July 21, 2011 Google announced significant changes to the look of Google Places. At first glance, the changes appear to be devastating to local search professionals who make a living in the arena...but not so fast. What Has Changed in Google Places? The most obvious change is that third-party reviews are no longer shown [...]
In the last year alone, Optimized Local Search Services has claimed and optimized over 1000 Google Places listings for local businesses. The biggest challenge has always been quantifying the actual impact of the optimization because it would often takes several weeks for the Google Places analytics to start populating. Though a shift from zero to [...]
Google is notorious about not publicizing their ranking methods. Google Places, formerly Google Local or Google Maps, is certainly no exception. However, when you’ve optimized nearly 1000 Google Places listings for local businesses in various industries certain trends become apparent. Keep in mind as you read this that dissecting anything based on a complex formula [...]
Google Places, formerly Google Local, is easily the most powerful free marketing tool available to local businesses. Introduced in March 2004, Google Local displays local business information at the top of many of Google’s organic search results accompanied by a map. As of June 2010, Google Places listings consist of 1, 3 or 7 businesses [...]