Many of my clients recently have gotten this email from Google:

It looks like the Google+ page for ACME Roadrunner Rentals has not been used in a while. To simplify your Google My Business listing, we will be removing this additional page from our system in 30 days.
This change won’t affect your Google My Business listing – you can still be found on Google Search and Maps. You can download a copy of your old content before it’s deleted by visiting this page. Alternatively, you can post or comment on someone else’s post within 30 days to keep your Google+ page active.

Thanks,
Your Google My Business Team

So what’s up with that and why are so many people confused? The reason for the confusion comes from Google, and more specifically from it’s handling of Google+, which was supposed to be the next big social network thing for individuals and businesses, then was supposed to go away, then didn’t but – and this is the most important point – Google separated Google+ from its map-driven businesses listings, known now as Google My Business.

Once upon a time they used to be the same thing and the information and posts you submitted to your Google+ local business page is what people saw when the clicked on your map listing. (And not to add to the confusion, but these pages were different than a Google Plus Brand Page, which is not associated with a business map listing).

So what’s essentially happened is that Google carved those Google Plus local business listings pages off and turned them in effect into brand pages. And what you post to your Google My Business listing no longer automatically posts to your old Google Plus business page (and likewise, descriptions, photos and the like were not automatically migrated over to your current Google My Business listing).

Whew! To answer the question at the top of this blog, for most businesses the short answer to that question would be no, there’s no need for that old Google Plus business page; most people won’t be able to find it, unless they search from within Google+, which of course nobody does. The longer answer is unless you have a lot of followers on that page or really dig the custom URL, then there really is no reason to maintain both pages.

One last word of advice, before you let it die, go to that old Google+ Business Page (you can find it by going to your personal Google Plus account and look under brand pages) and scrape any descriptions, posts and photos that you’d like to have on your Google My Business listing.