Google announced initial availability of a new advertising program called Boost today, beginning in San Francisco, Houston and Chicago.

Boost automatically determines what keywords your business ought to bid on and recommends a range of monthly advertising budgets based on the competitiveness of your business sector. It then runs Cost Per Click ads in Google search and Maps for the recommended keywords.

A major new monetization technology, combined with a transfer of substantial leadership, could position Google to extend its early major lead in local and location — a tech sector expected to explode in importance with the rise of mobile and other connected devices.