Comments on: Google Launches “Place Pages,” Gets Rid Of Tabbed Info Bubble

By: frann

frann — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:24:30 +0000

Last week, a relative was visiting, and they gave me the name of the hotel. I was trying to find out where it was on Google Maps, but the problem was, every time I clicked on the hotel name on the left to get to the map it jumped to a different page with somewhere in Newcastle. I was looking at the Caledonian Hilton in Edinburgh, and it kept switching to a map with some Caledonian pub in Newcastle. It was really annoying, and very difficult to get the information I needed.

Before this new version of maps, it was really useful, but now it seems a lot less so.

By: callende

callende — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:53:27 +0000

In looking at this the one big concern I have is for businesses that do not have ownership of their local business listing on Google. It looks to me like anyone can edit the business information. Like the address, website, category of the business etc.

I started to do this for a business listing that was not owned, but stopped short of trying to do this:
http://edcallender.com/2009/10/01/stop-others-from-editing-your-business-on-google/

Is what I see possible?

By: Lakeland Internet Marketing

Lakeland Internet Marketing — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:42:14 +0000

Thanks for the bleeding-edge info!
This development represents both new challenges and new opportunities. Having this info today gives me an advantage over my local competitors. I am a local business owner who consulots to local businesses here in Lakeland, so ANYTHING new in local search is important to us.
Greg, I agree that this may encourage more local owners to claim their listings and certainly helps me as a consultant by showing owners the importance of claiming their listing and working on their seo & sem.
Google does keep us hopping, huh?
Looks like today will be spent researching this new tool….

By: attacat_han

attacat_han — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:07:24 +0000

It seems that the Sponsored Links on these pages are likely to show competitors’ adverts though, which might actually take traffic away from your site if they have good advert copy. This just enhances the importance to write good copy and promote special offers to try and grab traffic from your competitors.

By: dhorning

dhorning — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:14:59 +0000

I think in the long-run it will negatively affect visits to any given company’s site but increase conversions & on-site time. Giving more details to searchers slows them down from clicking the first thing they see (reducing quick and easy traffic) but also helps them make a more informed choice – which is good for those of us producing quality content or products.

Maybe we’ll see our google traffic bounce rate cut in half (so that it finally matches Yahoo’s – they’re doing something right over there in Y-land).