google local

Where Did My Google+ Reviews Go? #FAQuesday

Have you been on your Google+ Local page recently and wondered why everything looks so terribly unfamiliar? It’s no secret that Google is always and forever updating its products, and the Google+ social network was the latest to get a major overhaul.The tech giant launched a redesigned interface Nov. 17 that makes users’ Collections (posts targeted by interest) and Communities (groups organized by a mutual interest) easier to see in their home streams. At the same time, the Google+ Local pages for businesses were streamlined to share the look and feel of individual profiles. The new, simpler design no longer includes easy access to certain information, including the company’s business category, operating hours, and customer reviews — including the related star ratings.Out with the Old If you need a quick reminder of how the old pages looked, you can see from this classic view of The Web Guys‘ page that it integrated local information, posts, Google Photos, and YouTube on separate … Continued

How to Find Duplicate Google Local Listings

Google Local listings beam powerful signals about businesses to whoever is looking for related services, so the search giant keeps vigilant watch on this vital information. But signals can get crossed when a business has multiple entries floating around the Interweb. We deal with this all the time at The Web Guys, so let’s go through some ways to detect these rogue listings. But first things first… Why Should I Care About Duplicate Listings? The problem with duplicate listings is that they’re rarely identical — meaning only one is completely accurate. Old addresses and phone numbers have a way of resurfacing online, creating confusion both for Google and for potential customers. Google will recognize that a business has multiple listings, but it can’t tell which one to trust and may return bad information in search results. In particularly messy situations, it may even suspend the verified (and correct) account because of the uncertainty.How to Locate a Duplicate Listing Thanks to Google’s … Continued

Google Places is Now Google Local+

Google recently rolled out several updates to their Google Places‘ local listings. Google Places is now known as Google+ Local. A new name wasn’t the only change Google made, the recent update also affects the way your customers write reviews on your own local listing. All existing Google Places reviews were automatically transferred to your new Google+ Local listing. While there was no effect on your existing reviews, the steps your customers must go through to provide valuable feedback on your local listing has changed. In order to leave a customer review on your Google+ Local listing, your customers must have a Google+ page. Google+ is Google’s version of a social networking site that allows you to set up a profile, create circles of friends, and share photos, videos, links, and more. Below we have provided detailed instructions that you can pass onto your customers to ensure they are up-to-date on how to … Continued