Google Places has many features you should understand and utilize. Presently, Google accounts for most non social media search results and contributes substantially to organic traffic. Registering your business with Google Places is free.

Google Places has changed a bit, and any retailer should take note. In the example screen captures, I search for restaurants in my home town by searching "restaurants cullman, al." Then I search for a specific BBQ restaurant I like in town by searching for "johnny's bbq cullman, al."

Take note of two important features: links to known places in the area that match and their map addresses, new links and information which include photos for the specific business when I search a given business. In this case, I'm searching a restaurant so Urban Spoon and All Menus links are shown.

Lesson:
1. Learn about ranking and listing services particular to your industry and how they rank and list you.
2. List your business in Google Places if you have a retail location.
3. Solicit people to rate you in any social media ranking service or industry specific service you can.
4. Get pics of your business on Google search results.