Google Leverages Social & Local To Boost Mobile Offerings with Google + Local
By Chantal Tode
June 1, 2012
A Google + local business page
In a move to make local mobile search more relevant and appealing to advertisers, Google is replacing its local search offering Google Places with Google + Local and integrating business listings across search, mobile, Maps and Google+.
The enhanced listings for local businesses such as restaurants and retail stores will also include reviews from Zagat. The move points to how companies such as Google are trying to leverage the convergence of mobile, social and local.
“There have been a lot of attempts at this – LevelUp, Facebook, Twitter, Google +, but nobody has quite cracked it yet,” said Carl Howe, vice president of consumer research at Yankee Group, Boston.
“I don’t think it is a given that social is the primary intent in all cases,” he said.
“It is hard to point out a huge success story in local so far. It is potentially going to be more lucrative but it hasn’t been demonstrated yet.”
