Google has kept Google Plus and Google Places an important factor in search engine optimization. Keeping your website up to date with these tools is key in your search results. But if you’re confused by the changes Google makes to these services, you’re not alone.
Businesses have a Google Places page, an official page that identifies the business and information about it. Personal Google accounts have a Google Plus page associated with the individual. This personal Google Plus account can be associated with an official website to claim authorship so that search results of the website will be associated with the Google Plus author, and if set up properly will display the author’s picture next to the search results. So there’s several connections here, but distinct differences in the Google Places for Business pages and Google Plus for individuals pages.
As of October 2013, Google has now launched a redesign of Google Places for business that seems to be a little more intuitive, but blurs the lines connecting to the Google Plus page. Now Google Places page have their own Google Plus page associated with it that is separate from the user’s individual account they may have set up the original Google Places page under. Yes, this gets confusing. However, Google changes things so often that by the time everyone figures out the current system, they’ll be unveiling a new one.
