Google is pushing Google+ Local quite vigorously and in the same line of events, the search engine has begun shutting down its city pages. So don’t be surprised if you find a city page missing from Google because it is all as per Google’s grand plan of promoting Google+ Local (after a shift from Google Places to Google+ Local). As reported by Search Engine Land, Google has shut down city pages like Portland while some like the Austin page are now being redirected to a page on Google+ Local. This is what Google said in response to the query about old city pages disappearing: “Earlier this year we announced Google+ Local – a local search experience that makes it easier to discover and share your favorite places – like a great restaurant or museum. With Google+ Local, information for hundreds of cities around the world including Portland, Austin, San Diego and Madison is streamlined in one place.”
This means that Google+ Local has rendered the old city pages useless but what users may find missing from the Local page include: no “recommended places” label and other features we saw on the City pages.
Pages with URLs like www.google.com/portland/ or google.com/madison are now being redirected to error pages. These pages came out last year and a lot of Google Places community activities were centered around them. We saw specials like “recommended places,” Google Offers and upcoming events and even Tweets from Googlers. What do you think will be the impact of this change? Will Google work with local businesses in the city to make Google’s local efforts better? Do share your views.
