This week, Google unveiled the biggest change to its fast-growing social network since its launch. Google+ users can now start building pages for their businesses. Many companies have been waiting for this feature for months.
Danny Sullivan covered the story over on Search Engine Land. Initially, when Google+ launched, it seemed as if anyone could own a page. In July, however, Google started deleting pages that clearly belonged to businesses. Some companies, such as Ford, kept their pages as beta testers. Google knew that businesses – and other non-human entities, such as brands – would bring special needs with them. So the search engine explained that it needed some time to create appropriate formal business pages, and that the final version would be worth the wait.
Now, if you already have a Google+ profile, you can go to the Create a Page tool to add a Google account for your business. You can choose from five different categories: Local Business or Place; Product or Brand; Company, Institution or Organization; Arts, Entertainment or Sports; and Other. Hovering over each category provides examples to give you an idea of what kinds of entities belong under each one. Interestingly, a visitor looking at your page typically won't see any indication as to which category you chose. They will see an icon next to the name of your page that indicates it's a page rather than a profile (the kind of pages reserved for humans).
If you're a local business, you will definitely want to choose that category, as Google+ offers options unavailable otherwise. You can include a map of your business's physical location, an address, phone number, and your hours of operation. Sullivan notes that if you've already claimed your business in Google Places, you'll still need to build a Google+ Page from scratch; the two are not currently connected. So you'll have to enter that information all over again. The two kinds of pages serve different purposes. A Google Places page exists to help searchers find a business easily in Google, while a Google+ Page “provides business owners with additional ways to engage, build relationships, and interact directly with customers.”
Google also makes you select an age restriction for your business – which could be very helpful for places like bars and nightclubs, for example, in addition to adult entertainment places. Google explains that “When you set up your page and choose an age category, interactive features that require the user to be logged in will be limited to users that are that minimum age or older. Keep in mind that all pages are public and using the age selector does not affect visibility of the page or content. Make sure that you choose a minimum age category selection that’s appropriate for your page.”
Here's another key point to keep in mind as you create your Google+ Page: whoever creates the page becomes its administrator. This role cannot be transferred, and new page administrators cannot be added. Google plans to change this in the near future, but until it does, Sullivan recommends that your company's Google+ Page be created by whoever manages your social media.
Google Optimization 
