So, you’re a local business doing a lot of social networking and trying to get a lot of local reviews for Google+ for your business. But recently, you’ve noticed that pesky Google+ update and then freaked out. The redesign ended up getting rid of every “local” element of the social network, which left marketers and business owners out in the cold when it comes to local reviews.
There have been a number of blog posts and forum discussions that began oozing out of the woodwork talking about the update. People are asking questions about it, such as whether or not the update is still in beta, and if any of the lost elements will make their return.
But recently, a recent post was released on the Google Advertiser Communities site from Matma B. Much to our disappointment, we know that Local pages aren’t a part of Google+ any longer, and the following features aren’t supported:
- Reviews
- Stars
- Categories
- Directions
- Photo uploads
- Interior photos
- Maps
- Hours
- Opentable/app integration
Most Local SEO experts agree that this change isn’t going to have any impact on the general public. It was only business owners and SEOs that seemed to visit Google+ pages anyway.
In regards to the general public, they will be interacting with your local business info either in the knowledge box on the right side of brand searches, or on the new Local Finder page. This page can be found by clicking on a 3-pack result. Your Google business listing page is now just your Google Maps listing.
But now that the recent update is separating Google Business pages from Google+, and creating broken review links, we have some help on how to get some review links, and we have Greg Gifford to thank. Greg has a post on Search Engine Land that will help us generate some brand new review links on Google+. Just follow the link below and you can find out how!
Search Engine Land: How To Get Google Review Links After The G+ Update