There was a lot I wanted to cover on Friday but was afraid some of that news would get looked over because it was April Fools Day. If you missed, Google documented the local ranking factors - which was no joke.
Another local change is how users can now leave reviews for local businesses. Conrad O'Connell first noted the change, where Google now shows a modal pop up that lets you leave a review directly in the search results:
The business no longer requires a Google+ page for it to happen as Mike Blumenthal points out.
Making it easier to leave reviews is a good thing, right?
Forum discussion at Local Search Forums and Twitter.