Tag Archives: local search news

At the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference WWDC 2012 during Apple CEO, Tim Cook’s keynote, a demo of the new Maps was presented on an iPad. Cook shared some details about how the new Apple Maps application would work.  Blogger, Tim Stevens, with Engaget.com was live blogging from the event. Here are some details he shared with his audience:

  •  In iOS6, Apple has built an entire new mapping solution from the ground up.
  • Apple has already ingested more than 100 million business listings. Info cards are very well populated and there’s Yelp integration.
  • Apple is building a traffic service. It’s a simple presentation with red bars showing traffic slowdowns and icons showing construction, accidents, etc. Apple is also building turn-by-turn navigation. Traffic is monitored in realtime with the ETA updated dynamically. If you need to be re-routed that will be offered as a pop-up notification. It’s integrated with Siri so you can ask things like “Where can I get gas?” and it will find some on the way.
  • There’s a 3D flyover view of cities – very similar to what Google announced at it’s own event last week.
  • Maps are vector-based like Google Maps. There’s quick rotating and zooming with gestures. Zoom in far enough and 3D pops up. There’s very quick tapping through info cards. You can lower the view and see the whole city in the background.
  • In Stevens’ opinion, the graphics looked good. He said it is nothing different than Google Maps but appears to be cleaner and smoother.

In the next coming weeks, we expect to hear more information about Apple’s dive into local search. Until then, what do you think of Apple’s announcement of the new Maps application? What will it mean for your business?

Yesterday, Google rolled out Google+ Local, Google’s integration of Google+ and Google Places. According to the Google and Your Business Blog, Google+ Local’s aim is to “improve the way people discover new businesses, rediscover places they love and share them with their friends across the Web.”

Google Places pages will soon be replaced by Google+ business pages with a new design and layout (see photo). In the new design, all of the basic business information is still present, however there is more emphasis put on photos and reviews. On many business listings, the user will be able to go a step further using the “street view” option on Google Maps and even venture inside the actual business location.

Now local businesses will be found across Google search, Maps, mobile and Google+ with just one listing. Customers will be able to share their experience with others through reviews and recommend businesses to friends. Google+ Local has integrated Zagat reviews in order to allow users to share exactly what makes a particular business stand out.

“This is a major upgrade in user interface and there are new features and capabilities as well there may be some lost or modified facets such as Google Posts and maybe Offers,” said Local Splash Founder and CTO, David Rodecker. “More details will be determined as Google evolves Google+ and adapts to user social patterns.”

Right now, business owners can still manage their business information in Google Places for Business. If your Places page is already ranked high in the search results the best way to ensure your rankings stay intact is to stay on top of the changes being made to your listing and create a Google+ page for your business if you haven’t already.

Local Splash clients have nothing to fear. Local Splash has the resources it takes to understand the impact of a change like this and determine what adaptations need to be taken to keep clients ranking well.

“We have anticipated a move like this for some time and we have positioned our clients quite well for the transition,” said Rodecker. “Currently, search results on the typical Google Everything search are unchanged and the Google Places algorithm runs strong in this user interface; something we already optimize for.”

Want more information on the Google+ Local release? Check out this round-up of articles on Google+ Local on Screenwerk.com.