Google has added features to its Local Business Center that allow businesses to place more information for display within Google Maps, according to Search Engine Watch.
Businesses can now upload and edit photos, specify their business by category and add more identifiable information within that category. And most interesting, businesses can also see how many people are checking them out thanks to a just-added analytics tool.

That tool is meant to push small companies, many of which don't have an online presence and use the Local Business Center as a way of establishing one, into becoming AdWords advertisers.

Such small businesses constitute an opportunity for companies such as Google and Yahoo, because converting them to advertisers would help the search giants gain a more solid foothold in the local ad market.