How To Change Your Profile Pic On A Google+ Local Page

Plus sign imageChanging the profile pic on a Google+ (personal) profile is easy. Changing it on a Google+ Brand page is easy. But changing it on a Google+ Local page? I spent a good while trying to figure out how to do it, and seeing as a Google search on the topic yielded no helpful results (other than an article on Google+ Help, which wasn’t even the 1st result), I thought I’d blog about it.

It’s easy once you know (really easy), but what makes things confusing is the fact that your page may already have a profile pic – via Google Places. But if you actively start using the Google+ element of your Google Places/Google+ Local page (i.e. writing posts in the ‘Posts’ section), that section might have a default blue icon that Google shows when you don’t have an avatar…

So in other words, if you have a profile pic on the Google Places side of things (in the top section) of your listing, but not on the Google+ side of it (bottom half of the ‘Posts’ section, each time you submit a new post), then here’s the fix…

And nope, you can’t click the avatar in the top-right of the screen – that won’t work this time…

Google+ profile vs. Google+ Local screenshot
…Trust me, I tried.

And going to your Profile won’t work, either… For a normal Google+ Brand page, it offers you the option to upload a profile and cover photo to finish off your profile. For Google+ Local pages, it just takes you to your Google+ Local page…

Nope, it really is simple. This Google+ Help article explains it. Regardless of what tab you’re on (‘About’, ‘Posts’ or whatever), and regardless of whether or not your profile pic already exists at the top (because it’s been uploaded to Google Places), you still need to click on this:

Google+ Local - Change Profile Pic button screenshot
Seems silly, right? Your page already has a profile pic. This is why it took me so bloody long to realise that that was the way to do it…!

Anyway, click on it, go through the steps, and that becomes your Google+ profile pic.

Google+ Local picture working screenshot
If you want a different pic at the top to what you use in the ‘Posts’ section, I believe that you can go back into Google Places dashboard and change your default profile pic via the dashboard. So you can have a different pic for Google Places and Google+, even though they both ‘live’ together in the same profile.

Now if at least one person gets some use of out this post then I’ll be delighted – because it very nearly drove me insane…!

[Plus sign image credit – Mary Crandall]

9 Comments

  • Mario

    February 14, 2014 at 6:59 am Reply

    This was really helpful, I’ve lost really a lot of time trying to figure out how to deal with this avatar issue. Thanks!

    • Steve

      February 14, 2014 at 8:29 am Reply

      I’m glad I’m not the only one, Mario 🙂 Someone on Twitter said that they’d had problems last week. In a way, I’m glad – I thought I was being stupid/going insane…!

  • Nick

    April 2, 2014 at 10:27 pm Reply

    Hey Steve, thanks a million, mate! I don’t normally comment on “how to” articles but your avatar/profile photo solution just had to be thanked. Really? That simple and without a single word from Google to explain how to change the photo? Took me a good hour trying all possibilities and clicking about like crazy. Maybe I would have clicked (by accident, most likely) on the profile photo just to see what happens…but maybe I wouldn’t have. Who knows? You saved me a tonne of time.

    Thanks again.

    • Steve

      April 3, 2014 at 9:09 am Reply

      Glad to hear that it helped, Nick 🙂

  • NAyK

    April 12, 2014 at 10:11 am Reply

    Hey thanks, I too was looking for this… so glad I could find your page and also relate with your frustration. However, even though I’ve changed the profile picture, the top-right icon at the google+ page settings still has a blue box. Does yours? Or will it change automatically?

  • John

    August 4, 2014 at 5:28 pm Reply

    Steve,

    Any information on your site about how top change the cover photo from that default multi-colored image? I’ve scoured the web looking for how to do that and ended up here.

    • Steve

      August 4, 2014 at 5:43 pm Reply

      Hi John. When you’re logged in and on your profile, if you hover the mouse over the default cover image, a ‘Change cover’ box should appear. Click that button and you’re set. Hope that helps 🙂

      • Derek

        December 21, 2014 at 6:51 am Reply

        How do u change it BACK to the default one? u know that blue one with the silhouette?

        • Steve

          December 21, 2014 at 10:23 am Reply

          Hi Derek, I don’t know for sure but I’m guessing that you delete all your profile pics and therefore it has no choice but to revert back. Hope that helps (mightn’t be right though)!

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