A recent change to the way Google lists local businesses is set to transform the online marketing landscape – for the better. Gone is the familiar Google Places listing to be replaced with the more social ‘ Google+ Local ’ format.

While still in the transition process, the plan is to merge Google’s social media platform, Google+ (which continues to grow at a pace) with Google Places, to create Google+ Local Pages. The result
being that all searches conducted via Google Search and Google Maps will also include Google+ Local Page results.

Add to this the Google+ recommendation feature (called Zagat) and you have a very powerful way to market your business at a local level. Continue reading →