GMB profiles soon to be no longer accessable on plus.google.com?

[James Watt]

I looked in a few industries, looks like mine isn't the only one affected.

I checked out a half a dozen wedding photographers, they all show this way. Here's one:
https://plus.google.com/+Powersstudios

This is definitely the old profile, it comes up for Powers Photography Studios sitelus.google.com "(503) 478-0997" inurl:about. Note that the phone number isn't on the page, the CID isn't there, no reviews, but the check showing it's been verified still is (presumably all the unclaimed photographers still aren't showing at all/redirect to maps).

I'm not surprised, given the separation from google plus and local businesses I suppose this is inevitable. It's not like anyone but consultants use those pages, but still... changes my workflow again. SABs are getting to be more and more of a pain to work on though, looks like google maps is about it for what's available now if your industry has been hit.

I looked at dentists, they're still 'normal'. Hotels and restaurants are also showing the new format. Anyone else seeing this? I can't believe I'm the first one to post this, must be brand new. Here I was just saying that Joy and Colan always beat me to the punch!

 

[Phil Rozek]

Hey James,

I saw what you're seeing. Indeed, there's nothing "local" on businesses' plus.google.com pages anymore. Since November, at least you could see reviews and other local info if you visited the page while signed in. No more.

Another thing I heard from GMB support yesterday, after asking them to remove a GMB page that we marked as closed:

Since we can only remove pages when the business never existed at the address on the page or is blatantly violating our guidelines, the page is ineligible for removal.

(Sure as rain, they did not remove the page.)

Pretty sure that's a new policy, but it's possible I missed something. Has anyone else got that?

 

[Tony Wang]

Isn't it just the new G+ they introduced awhile back? They gave the option to use classic G+, where profiles still showed reviews. Just yesterday (I think?) they automatically turned mine into the new G+ again, still gave the option to go back to classic, but this time noted that it was going away soon anyway.

 

[BenFisher]

I see a phone number and address on that GMB page, James. I G+ classic it shows 145 reviews on the about page, on the knowledge graph there is also 145 reviews.

Looks like this is the page connected to the Maps listing.

 

[Linda Buquet]

This is definitely the old profile, it comes up for Powers Photography Studios sitelus.google.com "(503) 478-0997" inurl:about. Note that the phone number isn't on the page, the CID isn't there, no reviews, but the check showing it's been verified still is (presumably all the unclaimed photographers still aren't showing at all/redirect to maps).

I see phone and address on the about page James. It's way down, but there.

Another thing I heard from GMB support yesterday, after asking them to remove a GMB page that we marked as closed:

Since we can only remove pages when the business never existed at the address on the page or is blatantly violating our guidelines, the page is ineligible for removal.

(Sure as rain, they did not remove the page.)

Pretty sure that's a new policy, but it's possible I missed something. Has anyone else got that?

That's always been the case Phil. It's one of those unwritten rules. Google won't ever delete or let us delete a listing for a viable business, even if it moved. They'll only allow you to close the location, leaving it still visible on maps.

 

[BenFisher]

Off topic kinda, but I did have success in getting a local listing nuked from maps...once. Someone had setup a warehouse as a local business.

I was able to show enough evidence to have the warehouse removed.

 

[Phil Rozek]

That's always been the case Phil. It's one of those unwritten rules. Google won't ever delete or let us delete a listing for a viable business, even if it moved. They'll only allow you to close the location, leaving it still visible on maps.

Yeah, but it was for a dupe at an old address. How is that a "viable business," even in Google's eyes? Also, I seem to recall that you could get a marked-as-closed listing removed for good if you asked all nice-like.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Yeah, but it was for a dupe at an old address. How is that a "viable business," even in Google's eyes?

What I meant was if a viable business like Al's Burgers used to be there, they want a listing for it showing that reality - it WAS there, but that location is now closed or moved. I know, does not totally make sense to us, but I assume they have their reasons.

But like you, it seems like I heard about them removing a closed listing.
Maybe it was Joy?

 

[Phil Rozek]

What I meant was if a viable business like Al's Burgers used to be there, they want a listing for it showing that reality - it WAS there, but that location is now closed or moved. I know, does not totally make sense to us, but I assume they have their reasons.

But like you, it seems like I heard about them removing a closed listing.
Maybe it was Joy?

That?s the thing. I had gotten them to remove marked-as-closed listings in the past (a la Joy).

This case was pretty straightforward. 3 offices: A, B, and C. No changes to A and B. The business simply wanted to close down office C.

I stripped out the landing page URL and phone number, for good measure.

But I wanted the ?closed? page removed for good, because it showed up in the knowledge panel for certain branded search terms. I did not want that. What?s funny is GMB support redirected the old page in a way that the ?closed? page stopped showing up in the knowledge panel for those brand-name search terms; the correct page showed up, even though the old page is still around.

Anyway, I?d say this falls into the ?Google trivia? bucket, but some SOP changes seem to be in the works - at least to this recruit.

 

[cd2]

I was helping a client who at long last had access to her reviews on GMB. I helped her get her account back since it had been created by someone who no longer worked for her. (By calling Google many, many times, and emailing etc.) But when I went into GMB to show her how to access the reviews, it was in the new format and they were no longer there. I switched back to Classic and she started to respond to her reviews.

Also there were two GMB listings one verified and one not. You used to be able to delete listings but that functionality seems to be gone. I was worried about marking the unverified one as "permanently closed" in case a client stumbled across it and mistaken assumed the business was closed.

Anyway it all seems like a confusing mess. No one really accesses the Google My Business except to sign up for the map and local listing, especially with the new format. I hate the new format since it seems pointless and awkward.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Phil,

What you are describing is the moved feature, which GMB can do for a closed listing if you ask them (and get someone competent). It's not a well-known feature at all. I wrote about it here: Google Is Fixing The "Permanently Closed" Problem

 

[JoyHawkins]

James,

I wrote an article a while back on how to tell if a page is verified on the new G+. Not as easy as it used to be (and annoying in my opinion).

You are right that the CID is missing in the source code. I guess I'll have to look for another workaround. oh yay.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Great sleuthing James, et all.

Not sure that this has anything to do with anything...

But yesterday when I switched from new G+ back to Classic, which I do frequently, it warned me that Classic won't be around much longer.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Great sleuthing James, et all.

Not sure that this has anything to do with anything...

But yesterday when I switched from new G+ back to Classic, which I do frequently, it warned me that Classic won't be around much longer.

Yep, Linda I noticed the same thing. One of the G+ TCs kind of warned me about it too.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Between this, the new GMB maps view feature, the <a href="http://www.localsearchforum.com/rss-featured-local-search-blogs/42895-multiple-owners-google-business-pages-accounts-online-ownership.html">Multiple Owners for GMB Accounts</a> update Tim just blogged about and the ranking shake-up - sure feels like something big could be brewing!

 

[fabaziou]

Linda, how are you toggling back and forth between the two versions?

Until now I have been just adding '/map/ at the end of any G+ URL to get me to the classic view.

To use the original URL:
https://plus.google.com/+Powersstudios/ (New G+)

vs

https://plus.google.com/+Powersstudios/map (Classic G+)

As a result, I have not seen the disclaimer that the classic view was on its way out. I guess I'll finally have to adapt!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Linda, how are you toggling back and forth between the two versions?

Until now I have been just adding '/map/ at the end of any G+ URL to get me to the classic view.

Oh I didn't know about adding /map. That's a cool trick.

I just go to my profile and bottom of left column there's a link to go back to Classic.
That's when I got that message.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Ooh, I didn't know about that either. Love it.

 

[fabaziou]

It's a neat little trick we've been using for a bit to force traffic to the classic view directly from our hotel websites.

Gonna have to find another way around this down the road!

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Second what Joy said. Their new'ish policy is to not allow listing to be deleted, ever, only to be mark closed.

Joy's workaround solution for "moved" is definitely the best way I've found to move forward with it.

On topic, so they are going to make dupe hunting that much harder now, huh? About all we have left is Mapmaker and sometimes it seems to miss things too.

What are you using now, Joy?