Although there was an initial flurry of interest when Google first revealed City Pages about a month ago, it rapidly died down. It was clear they had the potential to rank in the SERPs, but they didn’t. They weren’t really competing with other local directories, so the threat may not have seemed real.

Now the Portland City Page is showing a toolbar of PR3. Yeah, yeah, I know toolbar PR is junk, but it is telling us that these pages are very much going to be contenders for rankings for relevant locations terms.  Check out it’s backlinks .

All of the live Google City Pages – Portland, Austin, San Diego and Madison – link to each other, so the juice is flowing. Although none of the others has any toolbar PR, yet, it’s just a matter of time. As Google adds more and more City Pages, all linked up together, we’re looking at a local directory juggernaut marching over the horizon. (The pages also link to the offers page for that city, so Offers will probably be lifted with the tide, as well.)

I haven’t spotted the pages ranking in the wild for anything other than “portland city page” and “portland city page”, but how long will it be before they begin appearing in the local pack – or even in a one box – for such coveted terms as “portland restaurants” and “portland hotels”? Will Google then claim these are the most relevant pages to show for those types of searches because they’ve algorithmically earned their rankings?

As a consolation prize,  if your ratings earn you a spot on a City Page, the link to your own Place Page contains your business name and address, making it a decent citation for your business.