Google Told Me My Google+ Account Is Getting Deleted. Should I Care?

Some of you may have recently received an email from Google informing you that your Google+ page will be removed in 30 days due to inactivity. Should you care? For most of you, probably not.

Why Is Google Deleting Google+ Pages?

Google+ was released in 2011 as a competitor to other growing social media giants such as Facebook. It aimed to re-invent social media, by making it more like real-life communication. It offers features like Circles that categorize your connections so that you can share updates and news to selective groups. It also integrates with all of Google’s other platforms such as Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, and Google Calendar.

At the end of 2014, Google revamped what was then called Google Places and rebranded to Google My Business. Google My Business is a free business listing that shows up in Google search results when people search for your business. Business owners, especially local ones, have seen great success in attracting customers and sharing important information like office hours, location, website links, and directions through Google My Business.

(Hint: If you don’t have a Google My Business listing, you probably should go get one. Like right now. Call us if you need help. It’s important.)

In an attempt to compete with Facebook’s enormous adoption, Google began automatically creating Google+ pages when a Google My Business listing was created.

Unfortunately for Google, the social media platform didn’t go over with users as well as they expected. Over the last five years, Google+ has seen extremely low engagement. The platform is filled with skeleton-like pages; empty, inactive, and unhelpful. In response to the low activity, Google has decided to shut down Google+ Business pages that haven’t seen much action in recent months.

This is not a big surprise as Google has repeatedly been slammed for their lack of success with the platform since its release. In fact, digital marketers including the PHOS team are happy to find out about the change.

So, how will deleting Google+ Business pages affect business owners and their presence on Google?

Do You Need to Keep Using Google+?

Most likely, no. This change will have no effect on your Google My Business listing, therefore, your reviews, rankings, and information will go unchanged.

For some larger and nationally recognized companies, it might be worth trying to hold on to your Google+ Business page if you have an established following. If your page is still garnering engagement, then it may still be valuable to you. For most businesses, Google+ Business pages are not the main driver of engagement by any means, and no loss will come from the page being deleted.

What if I Want to Keep My Google+ Account?

If you would like to keep your Google+ account, all you have to do is simply participate on the platform. Post something, share something, comment on something to let Google know that the page is not “inactive.”

For most of you, we recommend letting the page be deleted from inactivity and shifting energy and focus to social media platforms with proven success such as Facebook and Instagram.

Contact PHOS About Google My Business Listings and Social Media Management

If you have any questions about this change or are interested in pursuing social media marketing for your business, give our studio a call! Our team of Inbound Marketing Executives can craft a custom inbound marketing strategy for your business and set your business up for digital success. We’d love to help tell your story.