Merging Google+ Pages and Google+ Local - how?

[RachelEm]

A client is one brand with several locations. Previously, we had created a Google+ Page for each location - now we're finding out that we should have created only one brand page with a Local page for each location.

Two questions:

1. Is this correct? Do we create a brand PAGE, with separate LOCAL profiles for each address

2. If yes, is there a way to merge the work that we have already done on the pages to the Local profiles? We don't want to lose the followers and updates that we've made to these pages.

Thanks for the help!

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Rachel,

Unfortunately, this is one of those questions in which terminology confusion can get in the way of a clear answer. Even Google is confused about what they are calling their various products. I'm not totally clear about your business model and your Google products from your description.My advice will be general here:

If your business is truly local (has a name, a physical address, a local phone number and face-to-face transactions with customers) then you are entitled to a single Google Places/Google+ Local page for the business. You should probably not attempt to merge because of the huge problems still surrounding Google's merging situation.

If your business is truly local and has multiple locations, you can create a Google Place page for each location, but should not attempt to merge, as this is unsupported for multi-location businesses.

If your business is not local (doesn't meet the parenthetical criteria I mentioned above) then you can create a simple Google+ page for the brand, rather than attempting to utilize the more local features of the Google.

Does this help?

[RachelEm]

I think so?

We're massively confused because of the ambiguity with Google themselves.

Here's our business model: one medical practice brand (like Mayo Clinic), but with locations across the state of Arizona (i.e., Mayo Clinic at Phoenix, Mayo Clinic at Tucson, etc).

So do we need one brand page for Mayo Clinic and then a Mayo Clinic at Phoenix Local Page, a Mayo Clinic at Tucson Local Page, and so on?

So, so confusing. And, we don't see ROI from Google+ like we do from Facebook/Twitter, but feel like we need to be on the Google+ bandwagon anyway.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Rachel,

So, for a multi-location local business like your medical practice, you should NOT be attempting to merge with Google+ as it is unsupported. You should simply be creating a local listing through the Google Places for Business Dashboard for each of the physical locations the company runs. Do not merge!