Google Places is sort of an outgrowth of Google Maps and there's a free page that's associated with your map location (that little balloon pinpoint on the map with the letter inside it). On it you can post information or a description about your business, your hours, special services that you offer, photos, videos -- you can even offer coupons on your Places page. Your customers can also rate, review or leave comments about your business.
Since in a locally-oriented search Google makes the Places results prominent on the search engine results page (SERP), and they try to deliver in the Places listings businesses most relevant to the search and the closest to the location of the searcher, your Places page should be optimized by using the best keywords to describe your business. Just like your website, optimizing your Places page will get you to the top of the results that Google returns and having both your Places page and your website optimized for local search can lift the performance of both.
Most importantly, your Places page can often deliver more results than your website. I have clients who, when you count clicks on the map icon, phone calls and click-thrus to the main website, actually get more action from their Places page than from their main site. Some use their Places page as their only online presence, successfully couponing and driving traffic to their page via Adwords Express (a stripped-down version of AdWords designed for Maps and Places).
So if you're a local business, before you spend a lot of time and money on your website or get into print advertising, flyers, direct mail, email marketing or heaven forbid, GroupOn, start with your Google Places page. You can email me with any questions or follow me on Twitter @lbconsultinginc.
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