Google is rolling out a new stripped down version of Adwords for the users of Google Place pages called Boost. This product is not available in all cities yet. Google says it’s available in San Francisco, Chicago and Houston. However it seems that it’s available in a few more cities than that. Boost automates and simplifies Adwords account creation for the local business owner right from their Places Dashboard. If it’s live in your city you should see an invitation to try it out.
Here’s what google has to say:
Research shows that 97% of people conduct research online before buying locally. Hopefully you’ve gone to Google Places to claim your free business listing that appears on Google and Google Maps. That enables you to share accurate information about your business such as your hours of operation, photos and videos - and now you can do even more.

Today, we’re announcing the availability of a new online advertising solution to help local businesses connect with potential customers in their area. Boost enables business owners to easily create online search ads from directly within their Google Places account.
Boost automatically creates and Adwords campaign based around the local business with the categories and information already in the listings. The business owner can set a monthly budget and Google chooses what keywords will trigger the ad.
Boost is an Adwords for the small business owner who does not have the time to perform keyword research, geo-targeting, or worry about all the different display methods Adwords offers. Boost does this all automatically. What it is meant to do is allow SMBs to get started with an Adwords account that may be uncomfortable or overwhelmed with the full version of Adwords. Google currently has over 4 million claimed local listings and this has the potential to be a huge moneymaker for Google and increase Google Places usage. With the competition to become a clear winner in the local search space this is just another way for Google to stand out from the rest.
There are obviously many question about boost. Mike Bumenthal posed the following questions in a recent blog post:
• Where is it showing now?
• When will it roll out to the rest of the US?
• Will the product provide feedback as to likelyexposure at a given monthly ad spend?
• How well will the product be integrated into Analytics?
• What exactly is the geographic area that the ads will display in?
• Will the ads show to the content network or on Google and GMaps only?