Google AdWords™ For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Maximizing Google Places

Google Places is the latest incarnation of the Google local business center, where you can create a local listing for your business, including an interactive map, hours, updates, coupons, phone listings, customer reviews, and photos and videos. If you want to take advantage of the Local ad extension mentioned in Chapter 8, you need to create a Google Places listing.

If your business is entirely local, you can use your Places page as your ads' destination URL, meaning that your website isn't strictly necessary. Transactional business like dry cleaners, pizza restaurants, and carpet cleaners may be able to do fine with nothing but a Places page. If your business is significantly different from the competition, or requires proof of expertise (such as for an accountant, a guitar teacher, or a fashion boutique), the Places page may not be sufficient, though.

As mobile and local become more integrated, your Places page may be one of the best marketing venues you can create. In addition to connecting it to AdWords, you can also engage in search engine optimization (SEO) to drive your page to the top of the organic listings for your local market. We're not going to get into those strategies here. Instead, we'll focus on connecting Google Places to your AdWords account.

To get started, visit http://google.com/places and click the Get Started button under the Get Your Business Found on Google section. On the next page, enter your country and phone number to see whether ...