Google + Local Is Now Google My Business – What?

Google introduced Google My Business last week (June 11) which replaced Google + local. Yet another way to confuse people with their Google + strategy.

Google redesigned the interface so now you can easily access Google map and Google + local page for each of your business location (see picture below, Google maps and Google + buttons under “STATUS”).

As you can also see, the update not only changed the layout, it also came with a friendly (?) data conflict warning.

Essentially, now you can see if there are listings with the same address that are out there causing the duplicate issue.

How about the bulk upload function?

Google Places Bulk Upload is now Google My Business Locations. According to the help page it is easier to use.

Interesting enough, after the Google My Business went live, some of the locations that had previously been claimed are now in “Pending Review” status.

Upon contacting a Google rep, apparently if you have an account approved for bulk upload, you can get an immediate approval without having to go through individual post card / phone call verification process (see below).

So what’s the verdict?

I am not quite sure yet. The fact that everyone is still super confused by the differences between Google + local pages and Google + pages, the naming convention doesn’t seem to improve the situation because calling Google + pages as “Google Places for Business” is not ideal.

What do you think? Is this change helping businesses?

References

• http://www.google.com/business/
• https://support.google.com/business/answer/4542428
• https://www.atlantic.net/blog/2014/02/10/google-local-vs-google-business-pages-vs-google-local-listing/
• https://support.google.com/business/?hl=en&rd=1#topic=4539578

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Tony

I am an SEO consultant who happens to be interested in affiliate marketing.
I build websites and use them for testing various SEO strategies and tactics.

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