SmallBusinessNewz

Google + Business Profiles and Updates to Place Pages

Small businesses should be aware of two major developments from Google. For starters, I don't know if you've been keeping up with all of the Google+ news, but the company has been shutting down the profiles of those that have been created for businesses. Right now, Google doesn't want businesses using the service in its current incarnation (which is still in testing mode). 

Google Does a "Street View" for Inside Your Small Business

Google has officially launched a program it started testing last year, in which the company sends photographers around to small businesses to photograph the inside of stores, and post the photos on Google Place Pages. This should be a significant boost for the content of these Place Pages. Google's Place Pages have become to the go-to place for local business information for a lot of people. That's simply because Google itself is the go-to place, and the search engine results returned most prominently are often these pages for local intent queries. 

Google Allows Businesses To Respond To Reviews

Whether your approach to a bad review is to apologize or go berserk (or something in between), Google's made it possible for business owners to have their say.  Owners can now respond to reviews posted on the Place Pages of Google Maps.

Google Optimizes Place Pages for Mobile

This week Google announced that it has launched mobile versions of Place Pages, which the company has been developing since the announcement of Place Pages last fall. The pages show location information, customer ratings, opening hours and what people are saying about the business in summary format. Google provides the following video for a restaurant's Page, demonstrating:

Why Wikipedia May Be Important to Local Search

The local search landscape is changing. There's no doubt about it. Naturally, Google accounts for the largest part of such change, and in a variety of capacities. Read this article and watch the videos embedded within to get some advice from experts about local search in general.

Google Gives Your Business its Own Page

Last week Google launched a new Google Maps feature called Place Pages. The purpose of these pages is to include as much information about places (which can be businesses or cities) in one spot. So for example (the example Google used upon announcement), if I search for "Burdick Chocolate Cafe" on Google Maps, and I go to the more info link for its listing (it's a place in Cambridge, MA), I will get reviews, photos, the map listing, directions, street view, and more.