It’s confusing. Google has made a mess of the naming conventions for its social media products! Here’s a quick guide to Google+. First and foremost, there is a Google+ profile. This is me as Jason McDonald, an individual. The benefit in terms of Internet marketing of a Google+ profile is that when correctly connected to your website, you can get your picture to show on relevant Google searches. So the first Google+ is Google+ personal, the Google+ profile.
The second type of Google+ is a Google+ page, which is the equivalent of a Facebook page, which is the page of a business or organization. A page on Google+ must be sponsored by a person, otherwise known as a profile. So I as Jason McDonald – the person – sponsor that Google+ page of the , Inc. business.
The third type of Google+ is Google+ local, a Google+ local listing. So if I had a pizza restaurant in Fremont California, called Jason’s pizza, I could have a Google+ local listing. (Here, for example, is my Jason McDonald, SEO Consultant, Google+ Local Listing). So there are essentially three different opportunities with respect to Google+: Google+ profile, Google+ page, and Google+ local.
As if that were not confusing enough, you can combine a Google+ page with a Google+ local listing as one page! So when you set up a brand-new Google+ page, and it’s a local business, you can have one consolidated page that combines both the Google+ local listing and the Google+ page.
In the class on review marketing and local search engine optimization, we go into this in more detail. Please don’t shoot me, I am just the piano player I did not think of the insane naming conventions at Google!
Got a question? Click this link to or call . is founder and Senior SEO / Social Media Director of the . He teaches the SEO training classes for the group, and therefore provides most of the SEO tips for this blog. His goal with this blog is to provide an easy 'one-stop shop' for the busy marketer looking for tips, tricks, and secrets on how to get to the top of Google and Bing for free using proven SEO tactics. When not dreaming up SEO tips, Dr. McDonald lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, two dogs, a cat, four iguanas and twelve children (just kidding). Really you read down to the bio on this guy? Enjoy the blog.
Google+ (Google Plus) vs. Google Places / Google+ Local – What’s the Difference?
Question. Is Google+ different from Google Local?
Answer.
The second type of Google+ is a Google+ page, which is the equivalent of a Facebook page, which is the page of a business or organization. A page on Google+ must be sponsored by a person, otherwise known as a profile. So I as Jason McDonald – the person – sponsor that Google+ page of the , Inc. business.
The third type of Google+ is Google+ local, a Google+ local listing. So if I had a pizza restaurant in Fremont California, called Jason’s pizza, I could have a Google+ local listing. (Here, for example, is my Jason McDonald, SEO Consultant, Google+ Local Listing). So there are essentially three different opportunities with respect to Google+: Google+ profile, Google+ page, and Google+ local.
As if that were not confusing enough, you can combine a Google+ page with a Google+ local listing as one page! So when you set up a brand-new Google+ page, and it’s a local business, you can have one consolidated page that combines both the Google+ local listing and the Google+ page.
In the class on review marketing and local search engine optimization, we go into this in more detail. Please don’t shoot me, I am just the piano player I did not think of the insane naming conventions at Google!
About Jason