New Local Business Page Features on Google and Yahoo

A couple of months ago, I spoke about the pros and cons of Google Place pages.  It appears that Yahoo has taken notice of Google Place Pages and is now doing something similar to its local business pages.  There are now new local business page features on Google and Yahoo.  Google recently announced that they will be allowing more details for reviews on businesses as well as letting people rate individual aspects of a business listed on Google Place pages.  They also started to show when a business has been verified with a large checkmark at the top of the page that says "Owner Verified Listing".  If the business has not been verified by the owner, it can be edited by users.  So, you will want to verify your listing as soon as possible so that you can stop anyone from writing harmful things about your business on your page.

Yahoo! has also made some changes to its local pages.  Users can now search businesses in an area without being too specific in the details.  For example, if I search "doctors in Kingman", it will bring up the doctors listed on Yahoo! in Kingman, Bullhead City, Needles, Golden Valley, Fort Mohave, Lauglin and Mohave Valley (the areas closest to Kingman AZ).  You can narrow your results by clicking on one of the links of the cities to find more specific information.

Make sure that your Google Place page is up to date and validated so that you can have complete control over what is put on your page and when.  If not, you may not like what you see.