Creating a G+ Business Page when a G+ Local Page Already Exists

[russofford]

Hi,

I was wondering what the 'latest' (2013) method of creating a G+ Business Page would be when there is already a verified G+ Local page in existence.

Would/could doing so cause a duplicate G+ Local listing? If so, is there a way to prevent this from happening?

I hesitate to create a G+ Business page in the local category when I already have a G+ Local page, because I have seen how a G+ Local page is automatically created (with corresponding GMM POI and all) when creating a new G+ Business page in the local category.


Thanks,

Russ

 

[jessicadunbar]

From what I understand is these are different. Google Local is for businesses with physical addresses & it's set up a little bit different. There are reviews, and some different options.

Then there is a business page, which allows you to share content and connect with G+ users.

 

[russofford]

Yes, I know these differences, but my concern is over creating duplicate listings / POIs as a by-product of this process.

Is there a certain way to achieve the creation of a new G+ Business Page while attempting to merge it with an existing G+ Local page.

Thanks,

Russ

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Is there a certain way to achieve the creation of a new G+ Business Page while attempting to merge it with an existing G+ Local page.

Most experts are still advising against doing the G+ Local/G+ Business page merger if you don't absolutely have to.

If you need to create a G+ Business page I wouldn't expect that it would create a duplicate G+ Local page. The business page is a completely separate entity, and I have personally never read about the creation of a G+ Business page causing duplicates in G+ Local as a result.

 

[russofford]

Ok. Thanks.

The reason for my concern is that the other week I was having trouble keeping a G+ Local page 'live' (it kept going under review for no good reason that I could find)... so I thought I'd give up on that and suspend it in the dashboard. I then created a new G+ Business page and ... if I'm not mistaken... it auto-created a corresponding G+ Local page & GMM POI as a result. (... unless... all it did was use the original G+ Local / GMM info... and merged it... hmm... don't know what to think any more, not sure if I have the proper records to verify that)

So... in any case... my thought was that if my G+ Business page creation was successful in creating a G+ Local page / GMM POI... for one client... what effect could it have on an existing, healthy client's listing inventory.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I highly doubt that creating the G+ Business page created a G+ Local page.

First, I wouldn't advise suspending a listing in your places account for any reason these days. Doing that certainly won't stop it from going under review. Also, just because you suspend a listing in the account, doesn't mean that the listing will stop displaying.

My guess ​is that after you suspended the listing in the account, it still remained live, but perhaps without pics and description and appeared as a newly created listing.

Hard to dig any deeper without any details. Feel free to share some details (links, NAP..etc) in the private forum if you don't want to share in public.

 

[mborgelt]

I agree with Colen about the merging - stay away if possible but I will say that once you get them to merge the new listing can be pretty impressive. I have seen some listings that have a TON of information on them and it look a lot better than just the normal Google+ Local page.

 

[Linda Buquet]

I highly doubt that creating the G+ Business page created a G+ Local page.

First, I wouldn't advise suspending a listing in your places account for any reason these days. Doing that certainly won't stop it from going under review. Also, just because you suspend a listing in the account, doesn't mean that the listing will stop displaying.

My guess ​is that after you suspended the listing in the account, it still remained live, but perhaps without pics and description and appeared as a newly created listing.

Colan is exactly right. Not sure why you would ever suspend a listing. Google won't let you delete it AND deleting and starting over is NEVER a good solution. Something inside that listing was causing a problem and you needed to figure out what was wrong and fix. Listings like that take troubleshooting and detective work. Nuking won't fix it.

But as he said even though you deleted in dash, it was still hanging out there live. When you did the G+ Biz page and verified it picked up that listing and merged it. Possibly whatever the problem was with the G+ L page is still an issue but now you can't fix because you can't edit in the Places dash once you merge.

 

[Keenan Glass]

Like Colen stated, looking at the listing details would be best.

But creating a local +Page in and of itself will NOT create a POI, ever. But could when it is verified IF it was not set up correctly or the corresponding Places listing has data issues. The only exception is when Google manually verifies the +Page without warning.

It sounds like you suspended you listing from appearing on Google Maps, not deleted it. That does nothing, so the listing was never hidden. But lately local listings with Pending issues can lose their photos and appear like a new page.

Overall I haven't been as negative about merging +Pages until the account suspension fiasco last month. Now, I would say that if your Places listing is ranking well and you rely on it at all, then you're probably better off not messing it, not even to edit it.