Charlotte Has a New Homepage on Google

Looking for things to do or places to go to in Charlotte? Google just made that search a whole lot easier with the release of its 5th City Page.  Head over to google.com/charlotte to get in on the action.

What is a City Page?

Google’s first city page was released a few months ago for Portland, Oregon and they followed quickly with pages for Austin, TX, San Diego and Madison, Wisconsin. Just last week Google released city pages for Charlotte, NC and San Francisco, California. Since GoBeyond SEO is located in Charlotte and we focus on helping Charlotte businesses get found in Google Maps, on Google Places and in Google Search – we found this release very exciting. Everything you need to know about going out in Charlotte is now located in one easy to use place.

What the Charlotte City Page Means to Local Queen City Businesses

Sure, we are local SEO geeks and enjoy keeping an eye on the search engines for you. So this was big news for us. But to be honest, this is bigger for local Charlotte business owners. I know I have said this before but it bears repeating – You Must Claim and Optimize Your Google Place Page! We have written before on Place Pages becoming more important due to their new recent re-design and the release of Google+. Please, go here and claim your page today.

With Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility last week and the effort they have put behind both their mobile and local marketing campaigns, it is clear that Google intends for Place Pages to become THE major player in local reviews and recommendations. Search is becoming more social and engaging your customers on your Place Page is quickly becoming a must-do marketing activity for local businesses – especially bars, restaurants, clubs, local attractions, spas and salons.

If you are going to commit to maintaining your business on just one local directory, shouldn’t it be the one that also runs the world’s largest search engine? Optimizing your Google Place Page will also help your business show up in Google Maps, and Map results show up in the regular organic listings. A well optimized Place Page can mean thousands of local views every month.

Google and Charlotte Sitting in a Tree?

Does Google love Charlotte, NC? It sure is beginning to seem that way. Back in March, Google Places launched an outreach campaign to Charlotte Businesses and sent thousand of Charlotte business their Google Places Catalog to help them promote themselves and their Place Pages to Charlotte consumers. Google certainly has a special affinity for Charlotte which means it is even more important for Charlotte businesses to get on Places than it is for some other cities. If Google is deciding to direct users to their Charlotte City Page don’t you want to be there when they do?

Ok..ok – we’ll try to stop getting so fired up about you claiming your Place Page. But we know it will help your business. Just go take a look at Charlotte’s shiny new Google City Page to get an idea of what Google Places can do for your business.