{"id":232,"date":"2012-06-05T07:44:17","date_gmt":"2012-06-05T07:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/advancedpracticemanagementblog.wordpress.com\/?p=232"},"modified":"2014-05-23T13:49:49","modified_gmt":"2014-05-23T13:49:49","slug":"how-recent-google-changes-will-affect-your-dental-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.advancedpracticemanagement.com\/blog\/how-recent-google-changes-will-affect-your-dental-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"How Recent Google Changes Will Affect Your Dental Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

You may have heard the big news last Wednesday. With another step forward in becoming your integrated online resource, Google Places has been merged with Google\u2019s Social Network, Google+<\/a>. Essentially, your new Google+ Local page is still your same Google Places page just with a new look.<\/strong> The difference being that Google+ pages also have the social features available to Google+ users.<\/p>\n

What Does This Change Mean For Your<\/span> Dental Practice?<\/h2>\n

Not much, yet.<\/p>\n

As we\u2019ve been coaching our network of dentists, Google is in the process of building a big-time social community that is bringing people together and with local businesses on multiple levels (see graphic below). They clearly want you as a business owner in your community to become a part of the conversation at some level and to interact with your patients online. What that means in practical terms for you and your dental office is still developing, but this is another move in that direction.<\/p>\n

\"Google's<\/a><\/p>\n

Right now, you don\u2019t have to do anything.\u00a0Google has already merged the pages for you. You still log in through your Google Places dashboard and the content is basically the same with the exception of videos and reviews; there are no videos on the new local business listings and your reviews are still there but they have been converted to the Zagat (1-30) point system<\/a>\u00a0(a company that Google has recently acquired).<\/p>\n

If you already have a Google+ business page, Google will soon be merging local business listings with their actual business pages in Google+. Google says that there will eventually be just one page to manage with information integrated across Google Search, Google Maps, Google+, and mobile.<\/a> For now, if you already have a Google+ account, you will manage these pages separately.<\/p>\n

Update: More Answers To FAQs About Google+ Local<\/h2>\n

In addition to our observations mentioned in last week\u2019s post<\/a> regarding the announcement of local Google+ pages, here are a few more insights we have learned from Google:<\/p>\n