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Guest post by David Mihm

I recently spoke at an event for e-marketers here in Portland and asked how many in the audience had heard that Google Local Business Center had officially changed its name to Google Places.  Fewer than half the crowd raised their hands.  Lucky for Twin Citizens, a representative from Google Places, Ryan Hayward, is coming to town this Thursday to share with small business owners and agency representatives alike some of the latest product updates and features available with Google Places.  His counterpart from the Bing Local Listing Center, Mikko Ollila, will be there as well, along with a number of other nationally-recognized Local Search marketing experts.

At the risk of stealing Ryan’s thunder, here’s a preview of just some of the changes as part of Google Places:

• Google announced that over two million Place Pages have been claimed in the U.S.  Assuming there are somewhere between 15 and 20 million businesses in this country, that figure is right in the 10-15% range that most of us have suspected for quite some time. So if you’ve already claimed your Place Page–congratulations–you’re ahead of the curve.
• Google Place Pages now contain a “reputation trend” and “sentiment analysis” aggregated from a number of other local search sites around the web.
• Places pages allow business owners to update with real-time specials and announcements from their business, and they can include links to things like menus, lists of inventory, and more.
• Home-based, or go-to-client, businesses now have the option to include a service area, and hide their addresses if they choose.
• “Tags”–sponsored yellow sticky notes that appear underneath a business’s URL in the Universal 7-pack–have been introduced as a paid option in selected markets around the country, and will likely roll out to the Twin Cities shortly.

I hope this has been a worthwhile summary of recent changes with Google Places — for a more detailed wrap-up, check out this article by Greg Sterling of Search Engine Land. And if you’d like to learn more about how to gain more exposure with Google Places, and your local search listings in general, I hope you’ll come to Local University: Twin Cities this Thursday in Edina.  Using discount code ‘couture’ you’ll be able to attend for only $89 — $40 off the standard ticket price.