Moving from Google place to Google+ - problems, problems

[McTaggart]

Hi, I'm just moving a business listing from Google Places to Google+

I have a couple of problems. (1) The verification postcard has turned up with the wrong address on it (different to the address on Google Places!) - can I alter this once I've verified Google+ page or would I need to go through postcard verification again?

(2) I see the categories in Google+ are far less flexible (and appropriate) for the business I work for, so I'm thinking that may cause problems. Has anybody else experienced this same problem?

Thanks in advance for your help

[Rubix]

I am not quite sure why you are moving the account or if there is such a thing. You should have Google places for your business to list your business on Google Map.

Google + Business page is a page where you create a network with your followers. You should  have both of them for your business.

Re: Verification: You need to verify your account for Google Places but no need for Google +. If your letter has gone to wrong address, login to your account and correct the address and ask them to resend it. Otherwise, your address on Google Map will be incorrect. Make sure you get letter to right address.

I hope that helps

[McTaggart]

Hi Sida - it's this process but there's a fair amount of caution out there from SEOs http://www.topdraw.com/blog/what-you-need-to-know-about-google-places-google-plus/

[LindaBuquet]

Hi Luke, yes I'm one that's been cautioning about merging and Google still says wait as well - until you get the new dashboard and the one click upgrade option.

Here is a concern I have about your initial merge attempt. When you tried to merge it should have merged with the existing Place page. If postcard showed up with a different address it makes me wonder if you accidentally merged with a dupe out there that had the wrong address. How did you get the postcard if the address was wrong?

Re categories - The new Google Places dashboard update is rolling out right now. Soon everyone will have it. With the new dash categories are also limited and there will be no more custom cats. Any custom cats you have will disappear after you are upgraded anyway. So everything is moving to default streamlined categories.

[McTaggart]

Hi Linda - for some reason it copied one line of address twice but I couldn't find any dupes. It just looks like a strange printing error, or something. I'm not going to verify anyway for now. It's a little confusing. Do you know when Google will roll out once click conversion option in the UK? Have they indicated dates? Many thanks for your useful advice.

[LindaBuquet]

Ah I see. Sounds like printing error. I know one of the problems we had for awhile was batches of postcards going out that were blank. So ya, some kind of glitch.

"Do you know when Google will roll out once click conversion option in the UK? Have they indicated dates?"

Google never projects dates. But it's a slow rollout in US right now. I'm not hearing about very many existing dashboards being upgraded yet, so hard to say when it will hit UK.

[AmberRobinson]

Hi Luke,

What exactly do you mean "moving a listing"? As Sida mentioned, there isn't such a thing as moving a listing from one account to another.

I think this article by Mike Blumenthal will really help with your 2nd question. His blog is a great read for anyone tackling Local SEO and the comments are always filled with quality discussions.

http://blumenthals.com/blog/2013/05/21/google-starting-to-convert-existing-dashboards-to-the-new-places-for-business-dashboard/

The article you linked to suggests making a "duplicate page of your existing listing" and then "Google will merge your old Places listing data into it".

• The term "duplicate" scares me this is the first time I have seen someone propose the idea of creating a duplicate listing rather than advising on how to delete/avoid duplicates
• As far as merging goes- http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/google-business-pages/4058-dont-merge-google-local-g-business-pages.html

Hope this helps!!

[McTaggart]

I meant merging yes, sorry! Thanks for those useful links there Amber - they look brilliant L