Ten Things I Hope Google Places Fixes in 2011

Google Places is an absolute must for any small business, even with all its flaws.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of them. These are the top ten, and learning to work with them – or around them – is just as essential to getting the most out of your Google Places business listing.

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Ten Things I Hope Google Places Fixes in 2011 – Site Pro News

 

Are You Waiting for Your Google Business Photo?

Google Business Photos allows business owners to have Google-sponsored photographers come in and take unique inside photos of their businesses.

Add the photos to your Google Places listing and see what it does to enhance your rankings. You can really pique customer interest and blast your Google Places profile right off the map! Like everything with Google, don’t wait on this one.

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Are You Waiting for Your Google Business Photo? – Small Business Trends

Google Places is Adding Upcoming Events To Venues via Rich Snippets

You’ve already gotten your business listing approved in Google Places, right? Maybe a few good reviews are even helping you get into those solid search results, right at the top of the search results page.

Ever-more social, Google now let’s you add rich snippets for your events, all from the same Places profile.

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Google Places is Adding Upcoming Events To Venues via Rich Snippets – Mike Blumenthal

Hotpot Loses Identity, Gets Merged Into Places

If you’re a proud member of Hotpot, we salute you. You got in the game early and played it for what it was worth. Hotpot’s run with Google was distinguished and profitable for lots of listed businesses, and the story just get’s better.

As a part of Google Places, today’s Hotpot may lose it’s less than ideal name, but it gains a lot in notoriety and in all the benefits of Google’s increasingly social environment.

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Hotpot Loses Identity, Gets Merged Into Places – SmallBiz Trends

Tips for creating a free business listing in Google Places | Adding useful descriptions and relevant categories

Google Places may be the most important thing to happen in the history of Local Search. Believe it or not your success on Google Places comes down to a few simple tips on how to optimize categories and business descriptions.

If you build it right, and they will come. But build it wrong by entering a standard description and irrelevant categories and you could end up in Google Places limbo. Master the art of Google Places and enjoy the flow of new found business.

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Tips for creating a free business listing in Google Places | Adding useful descriptions and relevant categories – Google Small Business Blog