Since Google updated its Local Pack layout, there have been “wildfire” speculations among SEO community on how the future of Google+ is going to shape out in Local Search-scape. To recap, apart from only 3 listings showing up on Google’s page 1 (versus 7 listings that used to show earlier), another important aspect of this update was that it got rid of all elements that made Google My dashboard relevant for businesses.
However, yesterday, on 26th August 2015, Google+ sent out a warning advising them to login to Google my business accounts more frequently or risk getting their listings de-indexed from Google maps. Google also informed users that if they somehow miss logging in to their My Business account, its going to send out a penultimate email – requesting business owners to login before any action is taken. Among others, Yahoo is known to take such actions on inactive/dormant email accounts.
So if you own a Google My business listing or you are a Local SEO agency, its recommended that you regularly login to your/client’s Google My Business account to ensure that you don’t run a risk to get unverified and ultimately deindexed from Google Local results.