Anybody want to take a guess at what Google is saying?

[sodomojo]

I have a painter who is not a customer, but he reached out to me because he follows my blog and thought I could help. Free help, right? lol. Anyways he received some communications from Google about a Google + listing and a Google Places listing.

It is completely confusing, but from what I gather, Google is saying that since he does not have a storefront, he can not have a Google + Business page, and that he needs to manage his Google + Business page instead from within Google Places????

Anybody ever seen anything like this? Just when you thought Places/Local/+ couldn't get any more confusing....

Pasted information below.......




Thank you for contacting Google. We may follow up if we need further information. Also, feel free to respond to this email to clarify anything or give us additional information.
Otherwise, we appreciate your patience while our team reviews and responds to inquiries in the order they are received.
Once we're finished investigating, someone from our team will get back to you with actions we've taken and instructions for next steps.
Regards,
The Google Team
Hello,
It looks like you verified a business in Google+ which does not make contact with its customers at the business location. We don't currently support this type of business in Google+ Local.
We've unverified your page and ask that you continue to manage it through the Google Places dashboard.
The Google Team
Hi Steve,
As mentioned before, we are not able to currently support service area businesses on Google+. Please continue to manage your business listing through Google Places using the information provided here: https://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=177103&topic=1656883&ctx=topic

I've looked at your questions and determined that your original concern regarding this listing has been addressed. Other questions related to search ranking, policy issues, and best practices can be discussed in our forums, in addition to being addressed in our Help Center.

Steve,
Google is rather confusing with the names they adopted for Local listings.
Service Area businesses are supported in Local, you just need to manage them through Google Places.
Your first screen capture is for a merge between a Google Places and Google+ Page, those are the ones currently not supported in Local and what the Google employee was referring to when he wrote that Service Area businesses are not supported in Google+.
You need to delete your Google+ Page and manage your Local presence through Google Places.
Please, read the announcement by Google regarding this issue
Google Groups
The other answer given was not extremely clear. If you have a Google Plus Business Page this needs to be deleted. There is a difference between a Google Plus Business Page and a normal Google Plus (Places) page. (Your Google Places or Google + page is acceptable as a service area based business) Don't worry about your reviews they can still be attached to your listing. If your listing is showing a Pending message it is going to be offline for quite a while. Go to your name in the upper right hand corner when you are logged into your email and click on your name. Click on the option to view profile and then go to your profile. Then do the same thing again. If you see another profile show up that is your business name you need to click on it and then choose to delete the Google Plus Business page. If you do not see the business show up in the profile portion of your account you may have never had one. If you did not click the option to hide your address on the Google Places account you must do so since you are a service area based business. You may be able to get a listing online for your company pretty quickly even though the account is Pending or having issues. Email me directly for this advice. I don't want to hand out information to other people in the forum because they may abuse this tool.
Steve,
When you merged your Places listing with the Google+ Page to create the social verified Google+ Local Page the Places listing was not deleted, it should be still there in your Places Dashboard. Go to your Places Dashboard
http://www.google/local/add
Don't you see your listing there?
Places support is not going to reverse the decision, they are disabling every Service Area business with hidden address that has a verified Google+ Local Page.
You should delete your Google+ Local Page, your Places listing should be re-activated and a Local listing should be created with the information from the Places Dashboard. It is supposed to happen automatically, although it could take a few days for the Places listing to be re-inserted in the Local database.
Let me know if there is any message other than status active in the Places Dashboard after you delete the Google+ Local Page.

 

[Linda Buquet]

It is completely confusing, but from what I gather, Google is saying that since he does not have a storefront, he can not have a Google + Business page, and that he needs to manage his Google + Business page instead from within Google Places????

Yes this has been the case all along. It's been widely publicized and I've tried to spread the word on it numerous times, but I realize it's confusing and hard to keep up with it all.

Here are a couple of my posts:

My initial announcement about it in August
http://localsearchforum.catalystema...area-business-w-hidden-address-important.html

I announce if you DID merge and are SAB with address hidden you need to delete G+ page and in this post is a link to official Google announcement about it.
http://localsearchforum.catalystema...rea-businesses-hidden-address-cant-merge.html

Here is one of several posts from Google that mentions SABs should not merge:
What should I do during the upgrade to local Google+ pages? - Google Groups

 

[sodomojo]

Is that what they are saying? That they are merged? lol. I couldn't tell.

I seriously do not think they could make it anymore confusing even if they tried.

I knew that non storefront owners shouldn't merge, but man my head is spinning just reading the email.

I was under the impression that 'service' companies could have both a Google + Business page and a Google Places page. And as long as they weren't merged, they were fine. Is that incorrect?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Oh dear... I was in a rush and just answered the immediate Q.
Did not read the whole string of support emails.

That is TOTALLY and UTTERLY confusing. I mean I KNOW what's going on and it totally confused me. Didn't make sense at several different points.

I'm going to alert Jade that support needs to figure out what to call these pages, get the names right and find a better way to explain this mess.

 

[sodomojo]

What would you recommend as the next course of action?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Ya the rep had all the names backwards. At least backwards from what I and I think most call them. But then again, it's so confusing and Google docs even interchange the names and get them wrong in places.

All they need to do is delete the G+ Business page and continue to manage the Google+ Local page (the one that used to be called a Place page) in the Places dashboard.

Sending you a PM re info Google needs.

 

[sodomojo]

So they can't have a Google + Business page at all? Even if it isn't merged?

If it somehow got merged, can't they 'unmerge ' it?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Well not sure how to UNmerge.

As far as if they can have a G+ Biz page that is NOT merged, I've been trying to get confirmation about that but have not been able to get a clear answer.

AND there is a weird catch22 right now where if you try to edit your G+ Page it tells you you can't edit UNLESS you verify. So it's like forcing you to verify/merge even if you don't qualify to.

See this post: http://localsearchforum.catalystema...ogle-local-now-forcing-g-business-merges.html

So I don't even know what to tell folks any more. I'm about ready to throw up my hands and say roll the dice!