Any Benefit from Link Building to Google+ Local Pages and/or Google Maps URLs

[russofford]

Has anyone seen any benefit by building links to their new Google+ Local page and/or their Google Maps URL?

Could this sort of link building theoretically help to boost rankings in Google SERPS for the website that the Google Maps listings is 'attached to' in the SERPS?

Thanks,

Russ

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hey Russ,

Thanks for another great question. I'm not sure. In the past I don't think it helped linking to the OLD Place pages. But now since the new G+ Local pages are indexed I've heard people suggest it COULD help. But have not tested and am not sure.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[russofford]

Interesting to note that some maps.google.com URLs are indexed: site:maps.google.com/maps

These must be the maps created by Google users whom saved their maps publicly. Hmmm, this could be another ranking chance for some.

Russ

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hey Russ - great catch!

I'm doing some research on that and it's got my mind going on a couple idea.
Will share if anything pans out.

 

[BCLocal]

In the past I haven't built links specifically to the +Local page/map, I sent them all to a page of the website that was dedicated to that location that also had some schema.org

It will be interesting to see how this might change with Google indexing the +Local pages.


Thoughts?

(edited out some of the non-applicable stuff! Ha!)

 

[mborgelt]

I have tried building links to my clients Google+ Profile link and have yet to really see it pay off. I might try a couple more. If it works Ill come back and provide feedback.

 

[Travis Van Slooten]

I thought about doing this as well but after I thought about it more, I doubt it would help - but I have no idea as I haven't tested it either. To me, Google+ Local rankings are dependent on location, relevancy, and reviews. I can't imagine one Google+ Local page would outrank another just because it had 100 backlinks and the next guy only had 2. It seems to me Google would totally ignore that factor. However, all things being equal between the two listings, maybe backlinks would push one ahead of the other


Travis Van Slooten

 

[Bobbie]

I'm seeing a benefit depending on the quality of the backlink.

 

[Simon James]

plus.google.com/YourCompanyName/ABOUT is ranked in the 7 pack.

plus.google.com/YourCompanyName/POSTS is ranked in natural serps. Since backlinks are a major ranking factor for natural listings, it follows that /POSTS pages must also be ranked according to their backlink profile (as well as the other criteria applied by the algo to webpages).
That doesn't however mean that the /ABOUT pages are indexed for natural search.

 

[Andrew Sawyer]

I'm seeing a benefit depending on the quality of the backlink.

I would surmise that the quality of a backlink to a Places/Maps page for a business feature would increase its relevance/credibility in the eyes of Google. The rationale would be that if various credible sources point to a feature that gives it credibility that the feature exists. The context of the link I suspect would heavily play in what weight, if any, Google credited the link with.