Earlier last month, we reported that Google was removing unverified listings from our Google My Business listings area, but we didn’t know exactly when.
This appears to come into force on Tuesday, July 28, 2015.
A thread on the local search forum has one user who posted the email they received.
On July 28th, Google will begin closing Google+ pages associated with GMBs that are not associated with user accounts and have not been verified. Some of our indoor view tours may be on such pages, but please note that indoor view tours will still be available on Google Maps and Google Search even after the unverified Google+ page has been removed.
Here are some recommendations for notifying business customers who may be impacted by this:
- If your business customers want to keep their Google My Business page, encourage them to verify your listing. See here for how to do this.
- If the business owner later decides to create a Google My Business page, advise them to create a new page to verify their listing. Your indoor view virtual tour can be transferred to your new verified listing. To request that a business customer’s image be transferred to her new GMB page, please log a case with our support team.
- Introduce Google Maps images to your business customers.
This email was sent specifically to Indoor View Google Photographers to notify anyone who has gone out to take a photo and tell clients to take action.
Linda on the forum added:
Basically, it seems that pages that are not claimed will not be viewable. They’re still there, but they don’t show up. However, these lists will still appear in Search and Maps. (Unless it’s a SAB with a hidden address.) There is no G+ local page. In any case, the link to the G+ local page disappeared some time ago.
So, if your business has many unverified duplicate pages, practitioner pages, or outdated closed lists that are negatively impacting your rankings, review these G+ pages to diagnose issues and troubleshoot your rankings. You will not be able to Also, Michael Cottam’s his Dupe Finder will stop working. So I think you’ll have to use a map maker to do that kind of research. But whatever data is displayed in MM, there is no page that looks at itself.
So please verify your business listing on Google My Business as soon as possible.
Forum discussion in local search forums.
