Google has quietly introduced two initiatives recently directly geared toward raising awareness of local businesses. These “tools” allow potential customers to find local businesses more easily and efficiently. Best of all, they are both free to the local business.

Check them out!!

Google Voice Local Search

Google Voice Local Search is Google’s experimental service to make local-business search accessible over the phone.Using this service, you can:

• search for a local business by name or category.
  You can say “Giovanni’s Pizzeria” or just “pizza”.
• get connected to the business, free of charge.
• get the details by SMS if you’re using a mobile phone.
  Just say “text message”

Dial from any phone     1-800-GOOG-411     (1-800-466-4411)

And it’s free. Google doesn’t charge you a thing for the call or for connecting you to the business. Regular phone charges may apply, based on your telephone service provider.

Note: Google Voice Local Search is still in its experimental stage. It may not be available at all times and may not work for all users. We’re fine-tuning the service to get better at recognizing your requests. It’s currently only available in English, in the US, for US business listings.

Google Local Business Referrals

The Google Local Business Referrals program helps local businesses use the Internet to attract new customers. You may have been visited by a Google Business Referral Representative who collected information for your free listing on Google Maps and spoke with you about Google AdWords.

Google Business Referral Representatives are active members of the Google user community who are helping to provide Maps with accurate local businesses information.