Google Tags Eliminated for Google Places Profiles

Two weeks ago, I discussed Google Tags advertising, an option that the search engine had rolled out recently that allowed businesses to increase their Google Places profile visibility in the map results. Well, merely ten days after writing that post, Google had officially eliminated Tags after a fairly short campaign. There hasn't been a whole lot of feedback from Google as to what caused them to remove the option for Places profile owners (no surprise here), however, I believe that there is enough information regarding local search to make an inference.

Google Tags Advertising

Most recently I have discussed the emphasis Google has put on Google Places, what businesses will benefit most from having a well optimized Places profile, and how the increased visibility of the map results in the organic results pages affects ranking positions. As the organic landscape continues to morph, it is essential that businesses trying to broaden their online presence understand and keep up with the supplemental features Google rolls out that can be incorporated in to a Places profile. One of the more recent features is Google Tags, and I want to address exactly what Tags are, what benefits may be realized from taking advantage of them, and finally, some of the potential drawbacks of using Tags.