June 5, 2012 – The once Google Maps, Google Local, and then Google Places have now become Google+ LOCAL, a merging of Google Places and Google+ Pages with Zagat Reviews.
Google has once again revamped its Google Places, integrating their local results with Google+.
According to a blog post by Avni Shah, Google’s Director of Product Management, “Finding the best places to go is an essential part of our lives, as are the people and resources that help us make those decisions. In fact, the opinions of friends, family or other trusted sources are often the first we seek when looking for the perfect restaurant for date night or the cafe that makes the best latte.”
That’s why Google is rolling out Google+ Local, “a simple way to discover and share local information featuring Zagat scores and recommendations from people you trust in Google+” as it is being integrated into Search, Maps and mobile as well as being made available as a new tab in Google+, creating one simple experience across Google.
Now, the new Google+ Local pages have entirely replaced Google Places pages, automatically converting roughly 80 million Google Place pages worldwide into 80 million Google+ Local pages, according to Google’s Marissa Mayer.
Now, Google+ users can see a new “Local” tab on the left-hand side of their wall, which enables them to search for specific places or browse places according to what they like. Once a specific place is clicked such as a restaurant, or a museum, you’ll be automatically redirected to a local Google+ page that will show photos and information like summaries, reviews/recommendations from people you know, and other useful information like address and opening hours.
Zagat reviews will begin appearing in Google+ Local, with each place seen in Google+ Local displaying a score based on Zagat’s 30-point scale, which will tell you all about the various aspects of a place thus enabling you to make the best decisions.
As Google+ Local is also integrated across other products usually used every day, when Google users search for a place on Search or Maps, they’ll also be provided with the same great local information there too.
Google+ Local can also be taken on the go with Google Maps for mobile on your Android device, and soon on iOS devices.
So online businesses, what are you waiting for, leverage this new powerful local marketing tool now.
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