If I have a Google+ Business page, do I need a Google Places page as well?
-
It seems like the two are redundant? Any official word on this? I'm fairly OCD about things being tidy and I dont want to split my reviews / shares / etc between two profiles. Are they not the same thing?
I searched for my company, both my plus business page and my places page came up. I attached a SS of the situation.
-
the question has been answered perfectly! Thanks
-
Jonathan - please let me know if you still don't feel that your question has been answered.
-
In all markets where we work with wedding photographers, the local/ maps listings matter. Until your Google+ business page and your Google+ local/ Places page merge, you should optimize each. They will merge eventually, likely within the next few months based on what I am seeing.
There is no reason to get rid of the Places listing, and it would have negative consequences in that you would be attempting to remove the main piece of real estate that can get you listed in the maps listings that are showing up on the first page. Google+ Local (Places) allows you to not show your address, but instead use a service area. It is a simple selection option in the dashboard. This is how all service based businesses that do not have customers coming to their place fo business are supposed to be doing it. So, just claim/ verify it and optimize it properly, then wait until it merges. This will help your efforts.
If you choose to claim/ verify and then try to delete the listing, there is a very high likelihood that Google will just re-add the unclaimed listing based on the data it has, which might still be the home address of your client (and you just wouldn't have control over it). Not advisable.
-
I need to bump this and offer more information. Both accounts are fairly new, and I just want to know what the negative effects of deleting the google places profile would be? There's no reviews on it, I'd rather it not show up because it has a map for the cover photo instead of our branding, and its a mailing address anyway, not an actual studio because the photographer works from home and doesn't want to list the home address publicly. Thanks in advance.
-
Unfortunately Google is still in limbo here. They are moving forward, very slllloooowwwwllllyy. Last May '12, they started the move from Google Places to Google+Local. Previously Places was too static and didn't allow enough engagement, etc as they were dropping the Google+ overlay onto all of their properties. Well it has been over a year and they are still in limbo. You fall into the category of non-merged. You shouldn't do anything right now until they finish the transition. It will only cause problems as Oleg suggested.
We have seen a lot of our clients already merged, while many aren't. Until it happens, you need to make sure that you have everything completed on both and that it matches up. Don't neglect the Places page
The best guideline to telling which of the 3 scenarios you fall into, is outlined perfectly (with visuals) in the Search Engine News Local Search book (called Unfair Advantage) that was just updated this month. You fall into the category that they suggest to not do anything with right now.
-
just thinking that it might be better to have all reviews on the google plus business page as it is better branded and if people come looking and im splitting traffic, +1s, shares, and reviews its likely going to be worse in the end to have two. On top of that, we don't really have customers come to us.
I'm looking into this because I'm wanting to find best practices for showing on the front page map. I've always been in markets where the map didn't show so organic listings were my game. Now I'm SEOing for a wedding photographer and the map shows (which is stupid because most of them don't have actual storefronts.) and now the map is part of the game. Any thoughts on both issues would be greatly appreciated.
-
When you create a listing from G+ local biz page, it asks you for a phone number and tries to look it up in their current places pages. If it does exist, they try to merge them. Looks like you have both showing up, personally, I'd keep them both as is.
G local is very buggy in terms of updating and merging listings and at this point, not sure how you would proceed if you wanted to merge them. Perhaps someone else can jump in.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
What Google Analytics Data to Share with Potential Website Buyer
Hi Mozzers,
Industry News | | emerald
We have contacted our competitors to let them know we would like to sell our website (domain and all content). One of them has asked for Google Analytics data. Which parts of this and how is this data best shared in such a case? As this is the opening of offers, I'm assuming some kind of PDF export with a summary of some Analytics data is sufficient to see who is serious. Then for those who are serious more data could be shared. Or is it ever ok to share your full Analytics with a competitor? Would love to hear what data and best practises are used to share this kind of information. Thank you.0 -
Best Site or Place to Hire Mid Level SEO Specialists
Hello Mozzers, Our digital agency has been continuously growing which is a good thing BUT recruiting for Junior or Mid Level SEO Specialists is getting harder in our area (we are in Orlando Florida). We post on Indeed.com but the level of knowledge and also the amount of candidates is not a lot. Do you know any other site that only pertains to our industry? Any suggestions? In fact, its been hard , we are even thinking of developing a job board site just for our niche. Your recommendation and thoughts?
Industry News | | ChatterBuzzMedia0 -
Backlink Query. Unranked pages of High Ranking sites.
Hi, So I was just wondering if someone with more knowledge than myself can answer this question for me. I have a site - currently sat on page 2 of google. On-site optimisation is done, however I am struggling to get backlinks that are from highranking pages. I am new to SEO so need a hand. My understanding of backlinks is that the higher the PR of the site that links to your 'money' site, the better that link is, and that these links are very hard to come by. (something that I am finding). Many times I have found sites that have a high rank and offer for a free listing, only for me to fill in details and get listed on a sub-page that has no ranking whatsoever. So my question is, are these kind of links worth the effort? Do they actually have any effect on rankings? And generally would anyone have any tips on the best sites to get links? Thanks
Industry News | | Chstphrjohn0 -
Are large property portals going to continue to dominate Google's search results?
We are having a discussion (potential argument) in our office around whether large portals (namely property portals) have longevity in Google's search. Argument 1:
Industry News | | NeilPursey
Google's rise in local search and rewarding strong brand names rather than keyword driven domain names will devalue property portals with keyword rich domain names. Property portals are essentially duplicating content on smaller individually owned property websites, therefore in time Google will devalue property portals. **Argument 2: **
Property portals have more property stock listed on their websites so therefore Google will reward them by ranking these websites higher than the smaller real estate agencies with niche stock in their areas that they operate in. The property portals that already are already in a dominate position already carry authority and their own sense of branding, therefore it's difficult for Google to ignore them. If we assume that Google is looking into user behaviour as a ranking factor, then this will help portals as they have more stock which means higher engagement on the website. I'd love to read the moz community thoughts and opinions on this. I reckon it's a worthy debate..0 -
Page performance and reinstating previous version
Hi all, I hope there is a search guru out there who can assist with this. I decided 3 months ago that our SEO contractors weren't doing as well as they should be and after long discussion, i reoptimised all pages myself. Most are performing better now but sales and enquiries went through the floor. I have today found ranking information from the week before i made the changes, something i thought i had lost. Now i have this, i have found that one of the two main pages has gone from position 1 to position 38. This explains the problem. I know all things are not equal and in the intervening months, competitors have updated their sites and links, however, this is the security sector and things don't change much, so, all things being equal, would reinstating the old version of the page be likely to reinstate my previous ranking position or thereabouts? or will the MIGHTY GOOGLE punish me in some way for swapping back to a previous page version? We use a CMS system and all revisions are stored. The page in question is www.compoundsecurity.co.uk/security-equipment and the keyword in question is 'wireless alarms'. Any help will be greatly appreciated by this non SEO plebe. Cheers Si P.S. feel free to berate me for not recording all pertinent info about rankings BEFORE i star playing around with the site. It was my first time and i have well and truly learn my lesson.
Industry News | | DaddySmurf0 -
Google Penguin 2.0 - How To Recover?
Hi all,
Industry News | | chanel27
Last year, we have engaged a SEO company who promised to bring us to the first page on Google. But after 4 months, we actually found out that he might be using doing non quality mass link building tactic and this caused our ranking for all 3 sites we given to him to drop in ranking overnight on 22nd May 2012 after the Google Penguin 2.0 rolled out. Is there anything we can do to recover?1 -
I need some help with google please
Hello i am trying to remove google partial penalization to my website since july 2012 I have removed link, used disallow tools, wrote letters Last comunicacion was a letter send on 12/2012 that they responded 3/2013 web in cuestion is www.propdental.com I have not answered yet because i am looking for a good profesional help they responded saying that i still have unnuturall links wich is pretty probably but i dont nkow wich ones remove. Site authority has dropped from 43 to 32 with all links removed traffic dropped from 48000 to 15.000 Please profesional contacts needed
Industry News | | maestrosonrisas0 -
Anyone else know much about the Google Pirate penalty?
The Google 'Pirate' (no official name) seems to have gone largely undiscussed since it was launched last - Fri 10th August http://insidesearch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/an-update-to-our-search-algorithms.html. The idea of it is to ensure those 'Pirating' content or abusing trademarks e.g. fake ugg boot sites and file sharing sites do not appear higher in the search results than the genuine websites. Google is using DMCA take down requests for labeling sites as Pirate and demote their rankings, Im amazed not even seomoz has covered the subject yet as far as I can see, yet it is a hugely important new update, albeit affecting a relatively small number of sites now, and in some cases (at least one I know first hand) seemingly without justification (the example I know is not a file sharing, fake goods, trademark abusive site at all.) Google updating its search algorithm based on DMCA take down requests seems a bit strong - these are takedown requests, not legal proof that a site is infringing a trademark. A real weapon for negative SEO? Anyone else had experience of the pirate update or know much more about it? Outside Danny Sullivan I dont see many SEO folk covering it. Heres my own insights into it and what ive learned about what (only innocently) affected sites should do to appeal http://www.andy-maclean.net/the-google-pirate-dmca-guidance/
Industry News | | AndyMacLean0