by John Schick, President | Nov 10, 2015 | Cultivating Reviews
Business owners have become accustomed to regularly seeing new additions and changes on the search results page of Google. On August 6, 2015, Google shook things up for local businesses once again by shrinking their seven pack local listings into a consolidated three pack, referred to as the “local stack.” Suddenly, 57% of businesses that appeared on the seven pack lost their first page visibility. Rather than going up in arms about the new changes, businesses can now embrace utilizing Google+ as a tool to help them earn one of those coveted three spots on the local stack. While it is rare for Google to be cut-and-dry about their next additions and latest updates, one certainty in these changes is business reviews via Google+ will be imperative for top local results. Let’s take a look at how to use reviews to get found on the local stack. A brief history of Google+ In 2011, Google+ was launched with the initial intent of overthrowing the social media giant we all know as Facebook. The initial platform would allow users to share interests and photos as well as connect with friends. Many users found these features to be so similar to Facebook that it failed to impress. A major turnoff for both businesses and casual users alike was the mandatory Google+ signup in order to use additional Google-owned sites such as YouTube and Google Play. Fast forward four years to 2015 and Google announced that they will no longer make signup mandatory to use of other Google websites. You simply just need a Gmail account with no obligations to use the...
