Much like any other major corporation that is in constant growth mode, Google has in recent months been making a number of changes to the way they conduct business. The one major difference is that when Google makes changes to their business model, the changes have ripple effects that are felt on a worldwide scale.

In May of 2012, Google eliminated their Google Places platform in favour of their recently launched Google + Local Pages, a portion of the whole platform which in many ways was supposed to be their answer to the incredible success of Facebook. The whole concept is based on the social aspects of the web and the fact that social media marketing is going to play an ever increasing role in how businesses at all levels market themselves, and their products or services.

No Coincidence

There is no chance or coincidence in the fact that Google + is very much like Facebook in the way it looks and functions. Google has taken what was once a locally targeted search platform merged it with a social network and created an all in one search/social network. The thought behind this seems to be an attempt to woo the millions of Facebook users over to Google + by providing them with this level of overall access.

Now you can not only have a long list of friends, you can create groups or “circles” and sort them out by any means you deem functional. You can sort them for instance by location, by type of business, as clients or sources, etc., all of which can help to make your Google + page more effective as a marketing tool.

New Style of SEO

This new social network along with the Panda and Penguin search engine algorithm changes Google has introduced in the past few months have made major changes in the way you as a business owner must create or have created, the right SEO content. No longer will you find that general SEO content will get your site found so easily. Due to this latest reinvention of all things Google, your SEO will need to be far more localised.

The new Google + Local Pages bring in everything that Google Places had to offer and more. By adding a social network, they have created what is in essence a far more localised search engine. As more people become aware of the features offered by Google +, what you will see is that they are going to spend far more of their search time looking for specific types of businesses in a local area.

Thus if your auto parts web site is only search engine optimised for broad keywords such as “auto parts” or even “online auto parts”, you are no longer going to see the volume of quality traffic you are used to. You will find that as the use of social media such as Google + grows so too will your needs to localise your SEO content. Consider using terms like “auto parts Adelaide” or Adelaide auto parts online” as these location specific keywords are the ones which are going to be successful in the future. Local search is back and this time it is here to stay and it has proven to be far more successful than ever before.