In October 2018 Google announced it will be sunsetting Google+. The decision has likely been in the works for a long time.
But the specific timing of the announcement is a response to a Wall Street Journal story detailing a security vulnerability that would have allowed hundreds of apps to access the personal account information of Google+ users.
Recently, Google revised their plan to accelerate the shut down.
The sunset is now scheduled to take place in April 2019, and over the coming months Google will provide users with information to help them migrate off of G+. Here's one of Google's announcements:
Many business have invested dollars in their social media budget to have a current, professional presence on social media platforms like Google+.
(make no mistake, Google+ is NOT your Google My Business listing. They are separate platforms. If you haven't claimed your free Google Business Listing, your social media person is not on their game.)
Here are a few tips to consider to manage this situation:
1) If you are currently paying someone for social media services make sure they are not wasting time on Google+ and if they are, negotiate a reduction in payment going forward since there is one less platform to manage.
(btw, if you are spending $$ on social and not seeing any measurable return, ask me why...there's a really good reason)
2) If you use a third party social media management service like Hoot Suite, Sprout, etc., download inbox history CSVs and any reports containing Google+ data.
3) To preserve your Google+ history you can read through their cheat sheet.
4) According to Search Engine Land, you can rest assured that Google+ and +1 buttons will have no impact on rankings going forward.
(btw, Ask me about what really matters for search engine optimization these days.)
5) Consider auditing your Google+ posts history to see if there is any content and images worth recycling into fresh posts on Facebook, Instagram or other platforms.
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