Google My Business: A Good Alternative to G+?

On the eCrater forums, we've been discussing off and on how the loss of G+ has negatively effected our search ranking. We've been at a loss to find a good replacement, wanting it to be a Google product in particular because they give preference to content on their own sites.

This morning, I came across a Letter to the Editor on ECB that offers what may be the first light of hope for a replacement. So I posted the following on eCrater:

Not sure if you caught this on ECB, but a member posted these links to Google My Business in response to the Letter at the source link below. Apparently, you can upload your product listings there for free as direct links to your listings. I'm still doing my morning ritual before starting my day, catching up on what's new, so haven't looked into it, yet, but am certainly going to.

www.google.com/business/

www.google.com/business/faq/

www.google.com/business/website-builder/

Source: www.ecommercebytes.com/C/letters/blog.pl?/pl/2019/8/1566148272.html

After some thought, I then posted:

Two benefits to think about -- even if you never get any direct hits on those listings:

(1) It will create backlinks directly on Google to your shop that will help boost your Google search ranking.

(2) Those backlinks will also help boost your listings in organic search -- and possibly even GS.

A third thing to think about is that even though they did away with G+, Google still gives preference to content on its own sites.

Food for thought.