A first fairly superficial look at the changes in Google's local services. We'll start prodding the beast before we give a full account of what's new and what's better. Now it's Google My Business! Hopefully this is the end of it's identity crisis and we can settle down and get people's businesses sorted out. We've made use of Cori Shirks' overview on Seer Interactive as sghe seems to be one of the first to have had a really good dig about in the new dashboard's innards! I'm just hoping that the promise of one dashboard to update all your local information has finally put paid to Google Local's multiple personality disorder that it has inflicted on so many honest businesses as an unintended consequence of it's many attempts to clear the crap out of local online marketing. You can find Cori Shirk on LinkedIn http://ow.ly/yIeGM And her original blog post is at http://ow.ly/yIfl9 We are Consulting Cumbria Ltd and you can find us at http://consultingcumbria.co.uk Drop in and pay us a visit and if you are in the North of the England or Scottish Borders, ask how we can help. We are your online visibility Wizard from Carlisle to Newcastle and all along the Wall!

1. Google Local Business Centre to Google My Business

2. For Years Google Local Was..?
Google Places, Google Places for
business, Google Plus Local…
Google’s local platform has been through so
many updates recently that it’s hard to keep track of
what it’s even called, let alone best practices on how to
optimize for it!
Cori Shirk June 2014

3. Google My Business
 Google finally made up their mind
 Google + Local pages are (in theory) no more.
 Now …integrated dashboard to manage all local
information including business pages, map listings
and their support services.

4. Basic Business Information

5. Reviews From Round the Web

6. Check Ratings Stats
 Where do you score high and where do you get kicked?

7. Newer Features
 filter your review stats by time frame.
 Post to Google+ page and respond to Google+ reviews
directly from the GMB dashboard
 Improved user insights for your business, including
visibility (views and clicks), enagagement (posts and
actions), and audience insights (lets you know who’s
engaging with you)
 A mobile app so business owners can manage their
pages on the go

8. Clearer G+ Page Types
Clearer messaging during the new page setup process that distinguishes different
types of Google+ business pages available for business owners:
http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/goodbye-google-local-hello-google-my-business

9. Other Changes to Be Aware Of
What’s happened to Authorship thumbnails and Circle Counts?

10. How to Navigate the Maze
Very Handy interactive Guide to Google My Business
http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/microsites/google-my-business-guide/