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Millions of people search Google everyday for information. One out of every five of those searches have a place name in the query.
This is good news for the off-line business. People are using Google Place to find out where to go to find a restaurant, or a dry cleaners, or a bike shop, or any other number of all kinds of businesses.
Any brick and mortar business can get a free listing on Google Place by simply providing Google with its listing information. The listing information includes things like hours of operation, contact information, what kind of payments are accepted, whether parking is available, and the products available.
The listing business can upload some pictures to help people recognize the store front when they get there, or just to show them the local surroundings. The listing page also includes a local map of the area with the exact location of the listing business highlighted by symbol and by name. A viewer can zoom in on the map to get street names and turn instructions.
The business listing is a dynamic, and the owner can update their information at any time with daily specials if they wanted to. Useful features like that make a Google Places listing a good decision for businesses like a small sandwich shop. Customers who live or work in the neighborhood can click on the sandwich shop's Google Places listing and make a more informed decision about where to order lunch from.
A Google Place listing also provides you with analytics about the terms that people used to find your listing. Did they find your Italian restaurant by searching for "pizza" or for "pasta"?
You also get analytics information about the number of times your business listing appeared as a result of a Google search, the number of times that people interacted with the listing by clicking through to the businesses web site, or requesting driving directions.
Best of all Google places is free to use. You can also get paid advertising for as little as $25 per month.
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