Synopsis: Key learnings about Google+ Local and recommended immediate steps

1. Google has replaced Google Places with Google+ Local. Local listings on Google.com and Google

Maps are converting to Google+ Local Pages.

2. Businesses can continue to manage their local listings (now Google+ Local pages) via the Google

Places management interface.

3. Users can now leave business reviews only when logged into their Google+ account. Google+

Local pages are accessible to users via the Google+ interface.

4. Google+ Brand/Business social media pages and Google+ Local Pages are distinct entities to be

managed by businesses separately.

5. A merger between Google+ and Google + Local is inevitable and will likely provide many new

opportunities for local businesses to interact with their customers.

6. Google has changed their local business review system. Google’s star ratings have been replaced

by Zagat’s 30 point scoring system.

7. So far, we have not noted a change to the ranking algorithm and SERP rankings do not appear to

be impacted. No word from Google on how Local listings will be ranked within the Google+

interface in the future.

Heralded by Google as a way to improve the way people find and share local businesses within a

simpler and more streamlined interface, Google+ Local is already proving itself to be a vast

improvement over Google’s previous offering, Google Places. Reaction in the marketplace has been

mixed among business owners, who fear losing control of their business information and a negative

impact on their business’ local visibility. However STEAK’s position is that business owners are

ultimately still in control of their local information and can continue to manage their business listings

via the Google Places business portal.

For an in-depth look at Google+ Local as well as insight into what it means for your business, please

read on.

What is Google+ Local?

Google+ Local is the first phase of integration between two previously independent Google products:

Google+ and Google Places. As a marriage of Google’s local and social offerings, Google+ Local will aim

to provide local information within a sophisticated and socially minded interface and perhaps provide

additional differentiation and interest in the Google+ social media offering. Google’s official scoop on

the product can be found here: http://googleandyourbusiness.blogspot.com/.

Currently, while every Google local search result and local business page will incorporate Google+

Local’s new design, features and ratings systems, only Google+ users can use the Google+ features

available on the new local pages. Users can access Google+ Local via the Google+ account

(https://plus.google.com/) by navigating to “Local” within the left side navigation.

STEAK’S Initial Point of View on the Launch

of Google+ Local and its Effect on Search

While the Google+ Local pages already have the look and feel of a Google+ page, for now they continue

to exist separately. Google has indicated that merging Google+ Local Pages and Google+ Pages for

Businesses/Brands will likely be a future enhancement. For now, business owners are advised to

continue managing their local pages and their Google+ pages as separate properties.

Google’s internal local guru Vanessa Schneider (https://plus.google.com/102991700177087923792)

explained Google’s differentiation between the two pages:

• Google+ page – “regular ol' Google+ pages that you manage from your personal Google account.

Includes social features (Hangouts, etc.)”

• Google+ Local page – “Places pages with a new look and feel, managed via the same account

you've always used to manage your Places listings. No social features*”

While Google does not consider reviews to be a social feature STEAK maintains the position that reviews

remain an integral element of any successful social strategy.

Google+ Local Reviews and the New Local Scores

Google has begun to capitalize on their 2011 acquisition of Zagat by replacing the 5-star consumer

ratings with Zagat’s 30 point scoring system. The new, Zagat-branded scores will be compiled from three

sources; Zagat sourced reviews, previously submitted Google Places reviews and new Google+ Local

reviews, generated by Google+ users. Reviews from other online sources are still linked to at the bottom

of Google+ Local pages but they will have no impact on the scoring system. Google has been quiet about

the future use of these reviews.

The 30 point system will evaluate businesses on a variety of

relevant categories. For example, restaurants are rated on

Food, Décor and Service; clothing stores on Quality, Appeal and

Service etc. Each category will be given an individual score.

Businesses that are not associated with categories typically

associated with Zagat reviews will be given only one score (i.e.,

auto mechanics, plumbers). Certain business verticals are also

associated with an average price dollar value.

Users leaving reviews are prompted to rate each business on a

score of 0-3 for each relevant category associated with that

business type. The average of all users score for each category will then be multiplied by ten to

determine the category score. Price points will be calculated based on an average of user generated

feedback as well.

The new point system is not the only major change to Google’s local business review system. Moving

forward, Google will no longer allow users to leave anonymous reviews, including any reviews left under

a nickname. To leave a business review users must login via their Google+ account and all reviews will

be attributed to their full name. This should help eliminate both review spam and malicious fake reviews

from competitive business owners. It will be interesting to note how users react to the privacy change

and if they willingly adopt Google+ as a review platform, as Google clearly hopes.

Previous reviews will still be attributed to businesses, at least for now. These reviews will be ascribed to

either A Zagat User or a Google User but will not have any impact on a business’ score. Google users

have the options to claim their old reviews within the new system and publish them under their full

name.

The Anatomy of Google+ Local Searches and Google+ Local Pages

Local Search on Google+

Google+ users can perform local searches directly within the Google+

interface via the new Local tab. Anyone familiar with Yelp.com will

recognize the layout; the search feature prompts users to enter the

“what,” and “where,” and the tool generates relevant local listings

accordingly.

In addition to the general local search results users have the option to

look at three types of specialized local search results: “From top

reviewers,” results “Just for you,” results and results from “Your

Circles.”

It is unknown whether local listing through Google+ Local will mirror

Google Maps results or be determined by a unique-to-Google+ Local

algorithm.

While the results from top reviewers are fairly self-explanatory, the “Just for you,” and “your circles,”

options tie in nicely with Google’s Search, plus Your World initiative that the company pushed live in

January. Both align with the initiatives’ goal to provide users with more personalized and intuitive search

results and allow Google to learn more about a user’s preferences and connections with each local

search.

More about Google Search, plus Your World here: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/search-

plus-your-world.html

The Google+ Local Pages

Google+ Local Pages bring a long overdue refresh to the layout of Google’s local business pages. The

new pages are sleeker, easier to navigate and interact with, and more visually enticing for users. Photos,

which were previously exiled to the bottom of Place Pages (if present at all), now mirror the overall

Google+ layout and are prominently featured across the top and right-hand side of each page. Users can

navigate between listing information and additional, larger photos by toggling between the About and

Photo tabs. Reviews are accessible without scrolling and the Related Places element has been moved to

the very bottom of the pages.

The new, streamlined pages also take the guessing game out of place page layout for business owners.

While some Google+ Local Pages have more content, more pictures and will generate more reviews, the

layout of each page is identical. Much of the content on the Google+ Local pages will be familiar to

anyone who’s interacted with a Google Place Page or maps listing. The pages still contain business

location and contact information, reviews, directions, and photos. A snap shot of what’s new and what’s

been removed is below.

New features summary:

• Zagat summary box including a Zagat editorial review, category scores, and “at a glance,”

keywords pulled from review content

• Prominent ”leave a review,” call to action at top and bottom of pages

• Option to +1 other users reviews as being particularly helpful

• Review sorting capability based on recency, high or low rating and “helpfulness” as determined

by other Google users

• Open Table Reservations (for restaurants)

Noticeably missing:

• Business Descriptions from the owner

• Business Hours of Operation

• Announcements from the owner (previously called, “From the Owner Updates”)

• Public Transit Directions

• Videos

• Areas Served

• Options to specify businesses that service customers at their location

• Owner supplied information (previously submitted via custom attributes)

It’s important to keep in mind that this is only the first iteration – many changes are likely to come over

time. Most likely, Google will continue to add new features that will enable business owners to optimize

their listings and engage with their customers. We particularly anticipate video to be included in the

very near future.

How Will this Impact Organic Search Results on Google.com and Maps.Google.com?

Initial investigation shows no change to rankings across a variety of verticals, both within the SERPs and

on Google Maps. While Google will inevitably roll out new features for the Google+ Local product that

could impact rankings in the future, at present most changes appear to be aesthetic.

The biggest change thus far is the move from Google’s star rating to Zagat’s 30 point scale. The

maps.Google.com rollout of Zagat review incorporating and scoring system seems to be farther along.

An identical search for “Steak Houses in New York,” returns the following results on Google.com and

Google Maps, respectively.

Both searches return the same top results. Additionally, the first listing displays identical Zagat branded

scores on both sites. Notice however, the second listing: On Google.com, Keens Steakhouse New York

shows a non-Zagat branded score while on Google Maps the score is branded.

Similar disparities can be found for a variety of searches. For example, some results are still using

Google’s star ratings on the SERPs but the Zagat branded scores on Google Maps. Some search results

still show the old star rating. Presumably, Google is rolling out the new layout to Maps first because

that’s where users have primarily searched for local information and its importance to its mobile users.

While there have been musings that Google might be moving away from Maps as an entity altogether,

Google’s apparent focus on the maps product during the rollout of these changes dispels any charges

that their attention to this channel has waned.

What does this mean for Google Places?

Google Places Pages are a thing of the past. STEAK’s opinion is that in the very near future, Place Pages

will be replaced entirely by the new Google+ Local Pages. For now business owners can still access the

old Place Pages via the Google Places business portal via “View My Listing on Google Maps” link but we

don’t anticipate this being possible for much longer.

All navigation to local business pages from the SERPs and Google Maps now directs to Google+ Local

Pages. Ideally any existing links to Place Pages found anywhere other than Google sites will redirect to

the appropriate Google+ Local Pages when the times for a complete migration arrives.

What Should Local Businesses Do?

In the days and weeks to come, Google+ Local is likely to evolve at a rapid pace. New features will

appear and disappear, bugs will inevitably cause frustration, and the migration from Google Places will

continue. For now, it’s in the best interest of businesses to adjust to the new product and ride out the

wave of change. While no drastic action is necessary or advised, there are several initial action points we

recommend:

1. Set up a Google+ profile, and try this out for yourself- interacting with the new interface is the

best way to understand the changes and their implications for your business.

2. Familiarize yourself with the new Google Business Portal (http://places.google.com/manage).

You can still access the old business portal and utilize it to see historical metrics and access your

old Place Page listing within maps, but expect it to disappear in the near future. While you can

still make changes to individual listings within the old portal, all bulk uploads and listing additions

re-direct to and must take place within the new portal- the rest is sure to follow.

3. Once you’ve become familiar with the new layout, you should update your listings and bulk

uploads to comply with the new streamlined dashboard. Remove any custom attributes from

your bulk uploads.

4. Keep an eye on your links. While links to Google Place pages will most likely re-direct to Google+

Local Pages once the Place Pages are taken down, it’s better to be safe than sorry. If you have

links to your Place Pages on your website, within emails or email signatures or anywhere else

make sure to check that they are functioning properly.

5. Discuss your social and local strategies with your agency. While Google’s past attempts at

developing a sticky social media tool have failed (anyone remember Buzz?) Google+’s intuitive

new interface and universal implementation across Google’s product offerings has made it a

compelling offering in the local space. It will be important to incorporate Google+ and Google+

Local into your brands social media and local advertising efforts.

What’s Next?

STEAK is enthusiastic about Google+ Local and we’re excited to incorporate its features into our clients’

local strategies. Still, a few questions remain. In the weeks to come we’ll be particularly keeping a close

eye on how Google handles the following issues:

How will national brands with local presence manage Google+ Local?

It seems inevitable that Google+ Local pages and Google+ Brand/Business Pages will merge into a single

entity. While this is an exciting idea and certainly feasible for local businesses with one or two locations,

it raises a lot of questions for large corporations, national SMBs and franchise based businesses.

Google’s best bet will be to allow a Parent/Child relationship that will enable local businesses to link

their Google+ Local pages to their brands Google+ Page. Requiring independent Google+ pages for each

Google+ Local page is not scalable or feasible for national brands. So far, Google has been quiet on this

front. We hope they’ll unveil a solution to give marketers time to plan well before they attempt to

merge the two entities.

How will this impact service oriented businesses?

The Google Places interface provided opportunities for home based and service oriented businesses to

hide their location and specify services areas. In fact, in the past businesses that listed business

addresses but didn’t explicitly service customers at their location were penalized. It’s unclear how

Google+ Local will handle these types of businesses but they’ll need to determine a solution.

The time has come for accurate local analytics.

While historical local analytics information continues to be available to business owners at the moment

via the old Google Places management interface, Google has specified that any Google+ Local activity

will not be tracked within the dashboard. It’s been STEAK’s experience that those metrics were not to be

trusted and we remain hopeful that a new solution (one that integrates nicely with Google Analytics) is

on the way. Google should recognize this rebrand of their local platform as an obvious time to give local

search the attention it deserves within their analytics platform.

What about video?

While the removal of video from Google’s local listing was quietly foreshadowed by the new Google

Places management it’s unfathomable that Google+ Local won’t include some component of video

content. Thus the question isn’t if - it’s when and how. How will business owners publish video content

to their local pages moving forward? Will it be done via the Google Places dashboard? Via Google+

pages directly? Will there finally be a bulk upload solution to video? Will Google users be able to submit

video content? Will there be a YouTube tie in? We’re watching this one closely.

How much flexibility will business owners have regarding both the content on their Google+ Local

pages and how they use them to interact with Google users?

Owner supplied information previously submitted to Google Places via Custom Attributes was never

guaranteed to populate on Google Places pages and disappeared altogether quite some time ago. Still,

the Google Places interface continued to provide some flexibility for business owners to communicate

directly with their customers via announcements, special offers and events. While we appreciate the

new streamlined interface, direct communication with customers is integral to the success of a local

business marketing strategy. Google needs to provide a way for business owners to interact with their

customers in order for Google+ Local to become a standard part of a local business’s social and local

online marketing plan.