Google recently released guidelines for their Google+ Local Pages, outlining what you can and can’t do with the main picture on your Local page. It is important to stay on top of these announcements from Google, make sure you read over these guidelines to make sure you aren’t hurting your local page, it could have big implications on your SEO.

Photos that are uploaded to Google+ Local Pages should be relevant. Specifically they should:

-Not be graphical logos

-Not be merely text, unless it is relevant to the place, for example the menu of a restaurant.

-Not be copyrighted

-Not be screen shots

-Not have people as the main subject

-Be of respectable quality. Photos that are overly blurry, noisy, rotated, or too dark may be removed

Most of these guidelines make perfect sense to me but a couple struck me as a little odd and slightly too restrictive. Specifically the second to last one “not have people as the main subject.” If your business provides a service to people why would it be a bad thing to show your satisfied customers on your local page. Especially if the service you provide is, lets say, portrait photography. How are you supposed to showcase your skills if photos get taken down.

As always keeping up with Google is extremely important. Whenever they put out a statement like this you can be sure that it will change a few things and probably go against a few things you’re already doing on your page.

Original article about Google+ Local Page Guidelines posted on Wikimotive's blog under the title Google+ Local Page Photo Guidelines.