Google becoming more and more serious about local businesses

Now, Google has started taking serious local businesses, and it has huge plans for local businesses and it also makes more than billions for itself in the process. Last week, a big Google+ push has been declared by Google into local search. Google declared this last when at a time when it also revealed Google+ local that mostly turns Google+ business pages into the new local business hub.

At WebPreNews, a Google spokesperson told “Much of the information from a business owners’ Google Place page – such as the business address, phone number, description, and Google reviews, and photos submitted by business owners and users – will automatically be ported over to the upgraded local Google+ page”.

They also added, “People used to be able to find information about a business on the Google Places page, but now, they’ll find much of that same information on the local Google+ page and enjoy the added ability to share that information with the people in their Google+ Circles”.

“This means that a business listing that could previously be found across Google Search, Google Maps, and Google Maps for mobile is still available in all those places, but is now also more easily discoverable to the millions of users on Google+ as well,” they said.

Google is also readying the latest “local ad assault” according to the Wall Street Journal reports that led by executives Marissa Mayer and Jeff Huber that should surface next month. A range of local geared services is combined “under a single banner” once called Business Builder internally. Punched, TalkBin and AdWords Express powered services will be also included in it as per the publication. And yes, a heavy Google+ push!

Formerly Known as Boost, Adwords Express launched last July in the U.S. Google also targeting those businesses which were not using AdWords. The company considered it a “fast/simple way for local businesses to start advertising online in less than 5 minutes”.

Kiley McEvoy, Manager of AdWords Express Product said “AdWords Express helps potential customers find your website or Place page, and gives you a quick and straightforward way to connect with them and grow your business”. He also added, “You simply provide some basic business information, create your ad, and your campaign is ready to go.”

Google acquired startup punched which was a mobile loyalty card. At your favourite shops, it was described as the replacement for your buy-10-get-1-free cards.

Google also acquired TalkBin, the April before that. In order to deliver a better customer experience, it was explained as one of the best ways for your business b allowing customer’s use their smartphones to communicate to your business in real-time.  Through short messages, customers could send suggestions, questions and feedback that enabled businesses to quickly respond.

According to WSJ’s Amir Efrati “Central to the effort is Google+, the company’s social network, which it hopes consumers will use to interact with local businesses that now have special Web pages on the network”. He also added “Those Google+ pages will draw traffic from the company’s Web-search engine. When shoppers visit these businesses, Google wants them to use their Internet-connected phones like a digital wallet, earning loyalty points and making payments at stores that sign up for Google’s new services. In turn, Google is hoping stores and other businesses will use their new Google+ pages to communicate with customers, such as by showing them special offers. And it hopes to persuade them to sign up for other Google products.”

Google hopes its new offering, which combines all of this, will bring in “billions of dollars a year in new revenue,” and gets “more merchants to spend money on digital advertising, including on Google’s search engine,” as per Efrati.

In recent times, Google’s average cost-per-click has also suffered a lot because of improved mobile queries whereas CPCs just have not matched their desktop counterparts. At the time of the company’s Q1 earnings call, CEO Larry Page said that advertisers are spending a lot of money on the source of traffic that is desktop. He said that “Over the time CPCs may actually get better”. He also added, “Google is making lots of investments in that area, such as Google Offers and Google Wallet. Those combined with the suite described in the WSJ report could have a significant impact”.