According to a new study by Implied Intelligence that compared 19 different local search engines, Bing tied for first with Superpages and Yellowbook—two sites designed specifically for local search. This is a significant change from a previous study by Implied Intelligence that put Bing in fourth place, also earning a title for the most improved local search site. Google maps placed fourth in this same study, showing that they have some room for improvement if they want to keep up with the local search competition.

Because the partnership with Yelp was announced very shortly before the study was released, it is doubtful it was a factor at all. What does this mean for Bing? They will have to wait and see if their joint venture with Bing will help them grow or bring them down as Yelp was ranked #8 in the same study that placed Bing in the top spot or if Yelp will help fill in some search aspects that may be missing from Bing’s current search algorithm and help place it above all other search engines.

If you aren’t registered with Yelp or Bing as a local business yet, it’s time to get with the times and do it so you can take advantage of their number one local search ranking. It’s also beneficial to run some email marketing campaigns to try and generate reviews on all local sites to cover all possibilities and make it convenient for your customers to leave feedback. All 220 Marketing clients have access to our Social Media appointments where all of this will be covered, so if you haven’t taken advantage of this yet or want to learn more, make sure to contact us to get some help!

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Last week, Google announced that they had converted all Google Places pages into a Google+ Local page; this change affects about 80 million Place pages. One of the changes that has come along is the use of Zagat ratings in place of the star ratings we are used to seeing. This allows users to rate each business on different factors rather than giving one score for the whole experience.

These pages will also be integrated through all of Google’s products including search, maps, and mobile. This will result in a more user friendly experience that yields the same page no matter how you find it. Google has also added a more social experience with this change, allowing businesses to share updates and encourage interaction with the page. While the updates are available right now, Google plans on slowly rolling out more features in the coming months.

When logging into Google+ now, users will be able to see a local tab. When clicked on, the page offers suggestions on local businesses in the area that is tailored to each user. Essentially, no two people in the same city will see the same listings. The local tab will allow you to click on each business to find out more and interact with the map to find directions if you want to try it out.

One big plus to all of these changes is that the Google+ Local pages will be indexed by the search engines unlike the Google Pages that were previously in place. This will allow each business owner to take full advantage of the search engine power Google+ has provided. While all pages have been converted whether they were claimed or not, it will benefit business owners even more to claim pages and add keywords into their description sections.

Another addition to look for in the future will be the ability to display all locations of the business on the same page. While it hasn’t been implemented yet, it is something that Google is working on and will be a handy feature for those with more than one location.

Among other changes, the main points to take notice of are:

• Google Places Pages have been replaced with Google+ Local pages
• Addition of a Local Tab within Google+
• Star ratings have been replaced with Zagat rating
• Integration of Google+ local pages with maps, search, mobile, etc throughout Google
• Circle filter that gives you the ability to view reviews made by your circle members
• Search engine indexing to help boost your search engine results

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