Thread: Service Area Business w/ Hidden Address - IMPORTANT UPDATE G+ Business Page Merge

If you have a service area business with address properly hidden, you were not supposed to merge with a Google+ Business page yet. HOWEVER many did because Google did not message anywhere in product or help docs where average business owners would see it - they only mentioned in the forum which few SMBs read. So many businesses that should NOT have merged (AKA verified their G+ Business page) already did and it's causing problems.

So Google just now announced if you have address hidden and merged/verified when you should not have - YOU NEED TO DELETE YOUR GOOGLE+ BUSINESS PAGE!

(FYI, this includes me, because I merged as soon as it was announced and they didn't explain until later that certain business types did not qualify. In fact I was the one that told them that trying to verify with address hidden was borked.)

Here is the new Sticky that Abby the new Community Manager just posted.

Service Area Business with a verified social local Google+ page?

Are you a Service Area Business (SAB) that has created and verified/merged a social local Google+ page for your business? Read on!

If you do not accept customers at your location, then your address should be hidden. At this time, Google+ currently does not support hidden addresses. You should delete your social local Google+ page from within Google+ (Click on Pages on the ribbon on the left, go to the Settings of your page, and scroll to the bottom and click Delete page).

Don’t worry! You can still manage your business’ presence on Google. Here’s how:

If you’re a verified business owner in Google Places for Business...
Manage the listing via the Google Places for Business dashboard. Be sure to hide your address.

If not, but a listing for your business exists...
Find the listing for your business and become a verified business owner by clicking on Manage this page on the right-hand side.
Then, manage the page via the Google Places for Business dashboard

If no listing for your business exists...
Add it on Google Places for Business: places.google.com/local/add

We’ll share updates with you on this thread when we have them.

Now I personally think that will just confuse the heck out of the average SMB who may happen to read it. But I'm thinking most of you can figure out what it means.

Hope none of you merged and already invested energy into building up the social stuff for your clients. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news - but I've tried warning folks about this from the beginning and I know Mike has posted about it a few times as well.

Stay tuned, I'm sure there will be questions, concerns and updates about this coming soon.

PS I need to leave for Dr and errands - will be gone for awhile. Will answer Qs when I return this evening.

OH nooooooooooooooooooooo! thanks for the heads up.......

I have not read the article fully yet but......I guess you are in the same boat if you merged, verified and then hid your address?

Does this explain all of the people who hid their addresses in the Dashboard but were visable in GMM and got deleted? Given the posting it seems this would account for all the SABs with hidden addresses that "disappeared."

Marie I suspect so.

Originally Posted by Andrew Sawyer

Does this explain all of the people who hid their addresses in the Dashboard but were visable in GMM and got deleted? Given the posting it seems this would account for all the SABs with hidden addresses that "disappeared."

Andrew I've been suspecting that was the case as well, have brought it up and tried to get an answer.

Why can not Google just provide an un-verify option if you click on the verified icon?

They seem incapable of considering their users.

When the merge option was introduced there should have been some validation on the entry to check the user only had one location and the address was not hidden.

Why should users loose hours of work because the development department is rated as Poor.

Mike Blumenthal's blog states that SAB's that do not take corrective action WILL BE SUSPENDED! And a few posters claim it is already happening.

---------- Post Merged at 04:04 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 03:54 PM ----------

What if the G+ Business Page has not been verified? If it is not verified, it isn't merged, right? Should we keep it up and wait for the day when Google blesses it?

Jim where do you see that? I've been gone a couple days, but just went over to read and catch up and I'm not seeing it.

Don't forget that the are eligible (and have always been) to be deleted via Map Maker.

Note: all the posts about WineCountryCarpetCleaning merging when they should not have
and all the advice I gave him, were split off to a new help thread here:
Merged Hidden Address Service Area Business - Should Not Have

Hi Linda,
I deleted my old G+ Business Page, created a new one…

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NOTE FROM LINDA: Since this post included a link and was requesting help with a specific listing,
as opposed to a general question about the important update in this thread...

I MOVED POST TO HELP SECTION HERE:
Re: Service Area Business w/ Hidden Address - G+ Business Page Merge
(Moved Flash's reply there too plus I made 2 new posts there re your listing.)