Rep Management with Google+ > Help Needed

[AndrewAkesson]

My client, Pareto Law, have set themselves up with a Google Local Business listing:
https://plus.google.com/+paretolaw, and when searching for the Pareto Law brand this page appears a bit like a site-link under the main search result.

I've noticed that other companies, such as moz.com, have their G+ page ranking seperately on page 1 of the SERPs. This is especially important for my client, as we're trying to push down other sites rankings for our brand. In an ideal world I'd want only their twitter, G+, linkedin, & facebook pages ranking amongst wikipedia entries and the like, as opposed to forums discussing my client.

The question is, are Pareto Law able to set themselves up with a G+ business page as well as the G+ local listing page they presently have. Is that an acceptable setup, or are you supposed to have just one or the other? I'm struggling to differentiate between the 2.

[AlanBleiweiss]

There are differences and similarities to the two types of G+ offerings.  A very helpful article about the differences and the values was posted by Amanda DiSilvestro a while back on SEW.

It is very helpful in this situation to have both set up.  The reality however in an ORM situation is that "just setting these up" does not mean you will get the results you are seeking.

It takes a comprehensive effort to generate enough depth of trust and authority to get all of these channels ranking high enough to get the results you are hoping for.

And quite often, even then, if those forum sites are generally strong overall, it will be even more difficult a task. ORM that is reactive can be overwhelmingly tedious and time / resource consuming.

A better approach to reactive ORM is to create multiple sites as well as have each of the social channels properly optimized. However you need to be EXTREMELY careful in how you do that if you are to succeed and not just garner more problems.  You can read about the core concepts of that approach if you go to an answer I posted this morning on another Moz question - all about multiple sites - the benefits, pitfalls... where in my answer I describe different scenarios that you can definitely apply to a law firm.  (I've done several audits for law firms needing reactive ORM).

[AndrewAkesson]

Still struggling with this one! The article you sent seems to be comparing an old school Google+ Places page with the newer Google+ Local pages? The confusion I am having is over the difference between a Google+ Profile and a Google+ Local Business Page.

Here are examples of what I understand to be the Moz.com G+ Profile, and what seems to be their G+ Local Business Page:
Moz.com G+ Profile: https://plus.google.com/+SEOmoz
Moz.com G+ Local Business Page: https://plus.google.com/101479834534380514124
These pages serve both purposes well, with the Local Business Page appearing in Google Maps, and the Profile getting it's own listing in the SERPs when searching for the Moz brand.

Why then does my clients G+ Local Business Page seem to be an amalgamation of both?
Pareto G+ Local Business Page: https://plus.google.com/+paretolaw
This page appears in Google Maps, but is also listed as their G+ page as a sitelink under their branded search listing. Their local business page has all of the Google Places stuff in it, but also has circles, followers, posts etc.
Can I go ahead and create a seperate G+ Profile for them, or have they somehow combined the 2 already? If they've combined the two then creating another account will be really confusing for people. Which one would they follow?

My client has hundreds of employees and clients, and I want them all to interlink and promote the various social media profiles to help them rank. However, trying to get their G+ local business listing to rank seems futile as Google has just bundled it into their P1 listing as a sitelink, and that isn't going to push the other sites down the rankings.

[AlanBleiweiss]

I haven't seen G+ bundle like that personally, so I am not sure whether you can "unbundle" or how to go about it in this situation.  People to check with are Andrew Shotland ( @LocalSEOGuide ) and David Mihm (@DavidMihm)- two of the top experts in local optimization.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Matt,

I recommend you read this recent post from Mike Blumenthal at LocalU:

http://localu.org/blog/merge-google-pages-usually-cant-now/