HEADS UP - Google Removing unverified G+ Pages - Redirecting to Maps Listing

[KabanaSoft]

Wanted to give everyone a heads up - It appears that Google is in the process of permanently removing GMB pages and replacing them with Google Maps Place pages.

Basically, what happens is that if you visit a URL to an existing GMB page that has been transitioned, you will get redirected to a Google Maps Place page that has most (but not all) of the data from the GMB page displayed.

Here is a few sample URL's that are now getting redirected to the Maps place page instead of displaying the GMB page:

https://plus.google.com/104810667401794534405/about
https://plus.google.com/112253441869774248228/about
https://plus.google.com/116685518911375872330/about

We started noticing this a few days ago for many GMB pages, though they haven't started doing this redirect for all GMB pages quite yet - from our analysis, it appears that they have done it for roughly 30-50% of GMB pages, mostly ones that are unclaimed, but we have also seen claimed GMB pages get redirected to the new Maps place page as well.

Nothing too surprising as we all knew the death of the GMB page has been on the doorstep for quite some time, but looks like Google has now started to finally kill them off.

Data points that were previously available on the old GMB page and are no longer available on the new maps place page include:

• Full Category List - they now only display the primary business category
• Videos (including YouTube channel link)
• Posts
• Followers
• Profile Views

And lastly, the only way to view reviews for these pages that have been migrated over is to click on the Reviews link on the Maps place page which takes you to a branded search for that business and shows the reviews in that clunky lightbox window on the SERP page.

Please share any thoughts or feedback on this move, and perhaps one of the Google Insiders can shed some light on when we can expect this switch to be rolled out for all pages.

 

[James Watt]

I think you might have misunderstood the pattern a little, though if you saw something that doesn't fit my understanding of what's going on, then you're right, and this news is huge, but I think that's only Google cleaning house and getting ridding of the unverified pages.

It's really unlikely that you'll find any examples of this map redirect that's happening for any actual verified listings, but if you've found any, then that definitely changes things and I'd love to hear about it.

The main update that comes along with this, it means that hunting for duplicates using site: plus.google.com isn't as reliable of a tool anymore. Map maker it is, which is unfortunately since I've found that's a little fussier and harder to pull a full list for me personally. C'est la vie.

Also: The old plus pages didn't have the full category list anyway, you needed to go to map maker for that too (though you'd still get more than just one there, which made me think it was a complete list until Joy pointed out to me otherwise).

 

[KabanaSoft]

James,

Thanks for the clarification and for sharing the link to Mike's post.

I was trying to find an example of a claimed page that got redirected to Maps, i thought i had seen a few yesterday but can't seem find any, so it looks like what you and Mike's article said is correct, they have gotten rid of GMB pages for only unclaimed listings. Can't seem to find a way to edit my original post and title to state that its only for unclaimed pages.

Appreciate your feedback on this!

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Joy's tip #3 in this article is pretty useful in light of this update. You can still view the cached/text version of the page, which may provide some troubleshooting insight, including the ability to view all the reviews.

8 Google URLs Every Local SEO Needs to Know

How to view a cached version of G+ pages: Everyone knows you can throw the URL into Google search and click the little drop-down button to show ?cached?. However, this brings up a blank screen for any Google Plus URLs. You just need to add &strip=1 to the end and you can view all the text of a Google Plus listing as Google cached it the last time they crawled it.

Example: http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...google.com/114760363041730005343+&cd=1&hl=en&

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks for sharing Mark.

And thanks for your answer James. I've been trying to get to a point where I could post pretty much the same thing and link to Mike's post. So great minds think alike!

I can edit the title Mark.

 

[James Watt]

For sure! And as a reminder out there to anyone else seeing this: I mentioned above that map maker is the new go-to for duplicate research, but that doesn't work for service area businesses. unverified SABs sometimes show up there, but if they're verified, then they won't ever show up. Anyone else have any ideas on SAB dupe research now?