(And what’s the difference between Google My Business, Google Places, and Google+ Pages?)
“Google My Business” is Google’s newest platform for managing your company’s presence across Google search, Google+ and Maps. The purpose is to make it easier for customers to find you - and information about you - exactly when they want it and on the device of their choosing, whether they’re looking for driving directions to your business, hours of operation, or just a phone number.
If your company already had a Google Places for Business account or a Google+ page, Google automatically upgraded you to Google My Business when it launched last June.
The information in your Google My Business account helps build your local search results listing. Inputting your business address, phone, website URL, photos, etc., creates a local search listing that displays to the right of the search engine results when a web user searches for your business. The information displayed is meant to help searchers find the exact info they’re looking for about your business quickly and easily.
In addition to providing the information for your company’s search results listing, the Google My Business dashboard makes it easy for you to access other Google properties, including your company’s Google+ page, Google Analytics and Google AdWords accounts. connects you to your Google+ Page, YouTube, Google Analytics, and Adwords Express. You can manage your business reviews, find out how many people have viewed/clicked your business on Google, and more.
Google+ Page
Google+ launched in June 2011 as a social network that Google hoped would come to rival Facebook. It allows individuals and businesses to post status updated, photos, links, videos, events, and even polls. While Google+ hasn’t managed to oust Facebook, it does make it simple for companies to share content and engage with customers and potential customers. Google automatically adds a Google+ page for your business when you create a Google My Business account, so all you have to do is open it and start adding content.
Stay tuned for our next post on Google My Business coming soon, where we’ll talk about merging duplicate pages.