Early adopters of Google+ may have noticed in recent times that their business has 2 separate Google+ profiles. This comes as Google transforms the old Google Local listings into Google+ Local profiles.
This created a dilemma for many businesses – which profile do you update, your existing Brand Page or your Local Page? Alternatively, should you delete your Local Page, or perhaps leave it dormant?
There was talk of Google offering to merge two Google+ accounts but we haven’t been able to verify that this is at all possible. However, this month there does appear to be another solution.
Google has released a feature which allows you to transfer the bulk of your local data (verification, reviews, map location, etc) from a verified Local Page to an existing Brand Page. This isn’t merging two pages, but rather moving the verified Local content to an existing Brand Page, which in turn then becomes the verified Local Page.
When you do this, the following information is transferred from the Local Page to your Brand Page:
- Reviews
- Local verification pin
- Map information
- Address information
The following information doesn’t move from the Local Page:
- Local Page custom URL (the custom URL of your Brand Page will be retained, if you have one).
- Cover photo.
- Followers.
- Circles.
- Posts.
Remember that followers, circles and posts won’t be transferred from the Local Page. Posts, your custom URL, followers and circles on your Brand Page will remain unchanged.
To redirect your Local Page to your Brand Page here’s the relevant instructions:
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Ensure you’ve already verified your Local Page.
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Login to your Local Page and from the dropdown menu top-left, select Settings.
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Towards the bottom of the page it will say, “This page is connected to Google Maps.” Click the button which says, “Connect a different page”.
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You’ll be given a choice to select your Brand Page.
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When the process is complete, your old Local Page will be preserved as a backup. You can go ahead and delete this if you prefer.
The downside to this is that you might have built up a following on both your Local Page and Brand Page. However, many businesses have been updating their Brand Page whilst either leaving their Local Page dormant or not even realising that it exists. This new feature provides a good opportunity to streamline your Google+ efforts.