Google has always been keen and is pretty good at serving up locally relevant search results. One of the best ways to check for local stuff is Google Places. Now with the announcement of Google+ Local, Google is adding a social layer to it.
Just visit plus.google.com/places if you when you are on Google plus. You will see locally relevant places categorised under Restaurants, Hotels, bars and places of entertainment.
I could leave a detailed review of the places I found on Google+ Local. The review actually ends up being published under your Google+ profile name. Anonymous reviews are not allowed so that spamming does not happen.
Google+ Local is a replacement for Google Places
Google+ Local will replace Google Places and that means a lot of SEO experts will be interested. It will also make it necessary for businesses to have official Google+ pages.
I guess Google will have to get this really right for mobile phones as more people tend to look for local information on their smartphones rather than a desktop browser.
Here is the video demo of Google+ Local
I have often seen a lot of my friends use Facebook check-in, when they visit a restaurant or some popular place. This is a nice way to share with your friends where you are. But it does not seem to allow me to search for what my friends think of local places of businesses. So maybe Facebook is losing a trick here.
Will Google+ Local get you using Google+ a lot more? Do drop in your comments.