Now this is getting very interesting…

Google has added four new tools/features to the Google Local Business Center (LBC), which is part of the Google Maps service. Starting today, LBC users can:

1. Add photos to a business listing.
2. Fix your red map marker if it’s in the wrong spot.
3. Add “custom attributes” to your business listing.
4. See statistics showing how many “impressions” your listing has had in the last 30 days.

I just updated my wife’s real estate listing and found the new tools A) easy to use, and B) handy. The red marker was off by about 500 feet so I moved it to the correct spot. I added two photos — her portrait and a photo of one of her “SOLD” signs. And then — what I hope will be the most effective addition of all — I added a list of local town names she covers in the local area.

If that helps her listing show up on [cityname real estate] queries other than the cityname associated with her LBC listing … cool!

After making these changes, Google notified me that the updated information should appear within one month.

The new features are really a breeze to use, but if you need some help, Barry wrote a nice How-To at Search Engine Land.

Bonus tip: I would highly recommend you go do this right away. Trusted information is one of the big challenges of local search, and your active claiming and correction of your own listing can only increase the trust your data has.

[tags]google maps, local search[/tags]