Google Kills Tags in Google Places Within Google Maps

Are you local consumers able to find you and further select you??? Know about Google Tags and Google Boost local business advertising products.

Google local under senior VP Jeff Huber is watching the rolling out of Google tags within Google Places or Google Maps. Google will stop Tags in Google Maps and Places after 29th April 2011, it was announced on 15th April 2011. Merchants using the Google tags product for advertising their business in local market were sent notification email. Google tags used for enhance listing costs just $25 per month with a month free trail compared to Yext tag, a new ad product for local marketers and national advertisers with local outlets that is available at $99 per month, with a 7-day free trial.

Merchants could highlight their natural local business listing with a yellow tag and few words focusing offers, links, menus, photos on website. Earlier in October 2010 Google removed website URL from Google tag.

Google new local advertising product called Boost will take its place; a refined version of Tag. On 25th October 2010 Google announced new product Google Boost. Boost ads are all of those blue-colored pushpins on Google Maps and in paid search results. Boost will not highlight website URL, menus, photos, offer but will pull address and phone number. Boost ads will not drive direct traffic to website but will take a visitor directly to make a call for services. In compared to Tags that are sold at flat subscription and appear next to organic results Boost merchants will set a budget and pay per click; Boost ads appear in the "Sponsored Links" section of Google.com and Google Maps search result pages.

For local businesses looking for tag products can trust a new advertising product Yext Tags (Yext CEO Howard Lerman). Yext Tags will change to PowerListings. Yext tags brings the thrust of Internet advertising to local businesses, tags can be added to any local business listing sites like SuperPages, Local.com, etc. on an application, mobile device, search engine, review sites.

I would like to go back a little and talk about Google name transition from Google Local to Google Places.

On April 19th 2010, a year back Google decided to change the name of its local business listing center what was called the “Google Local Business Center” to “Google Places.” The change is a steap ahead as Google keeps making changes for betterment to connect Google Place Pages with the place where local business information is claimed, entered and enhanced.

Google Place was a roadway that would connect SMB promotional and consumer assets and help build brand around Places.

With Google Places name change following addition features were introduced:
Enhanced Listings - At Google places now businesses could advertise for just $25 per month, businesses in select cities could make their listings stand out on Google.com and Google Maps with Tags. As of today, with availability in Houston and San Jose, CA, Austin, Atlanta and Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Diego, Seattle, Boulder and San Francisco.
Google said, "adding a tag to your Google Places listing allows you to highlight info that you want your customers to see."

Business Photos: businesses could add free of cost interior photography of business.

Customized QR codes: unique to an individual business could be added on business cards and marketing materials so that customers using iphones could directly call the mobile version of Google Place page for business

Favorite Places: shows you the nearest Favorite Places city to your current location. These lists are helpful as discovery tools and can be saved (on the PC) to your own My Maps. With some effort users can pick and choose individual locations from among the celebrity lists and make their own personalized meta-lists.

Service areas were already listed with the Google Local Business Center. With real time updates, better statistics control, options to add coupons listings in Google places had steep growth.

But sooner it was realized that Google started aggressively using Tags as ad option on Google Place Pages as a result Google in October 2010 (10/25/2010) removed website URL tag option (removed option to highlight website URL). Googler Brianna replied "those who have the URL option already in place are able to continue to use it, but you can't change it, if you do, it will be lost. So those who are grandfathered in, stick with it - until Google snatches it away".

Know about Google and Local Businesses Stats and Facts here: https://sites.google.com/a/pressatgoogle.com/googleplaces/metrics