Google+ is historical
Do not load retired Google+ scripts, use old branding, or design new account journeys around unsupported libraries.
From Google+ Sign-In to Modern Google Identity
Product history and identity architecture
Early identity work is useful history only when the current implementation is described honestly.
CMS Max originally promoted Google+ sign-in as an early social identity experience. Google+ and its original web libraries are retired. Modern projects use Google Identity Services, validate credentials on the server, create their own application session, and separate authentication from authorization.
- Historical context
- Current Google library
- Server validation
- Application-owned session
Decision frame
Separate the historical milestone from the current architecture.
The original article captured a real moment in social sign-in adoption. It should not be read as current implementation documentation. Any new project must start with the live Google Identity Services guidance and the current CMS Max application requirements.
Sign-in is not the session
Google provides a credential for authentication. The application validates it and remains responsible for its own account mapping and session lifecycle.
Authorization is separate
Requesting access to Google APIs is a distinct consent and authorization flow, not something to bundle casually into account sign-in.
Practical controls
A current identity flow needs more than a button.
The visible control is one small part of account security and lifecycle ownership.
Current client library
Load Google Identity Services from the supported Google origin and follow current button, One Tap, browser, and policy guidance.
Server-side validation
Send the returned credential to a trusted backend and validate issuer, audience, signature, expiration, and required claims.
Account matching
Define how verified Google identity data maps to new and existing customer records without creating duplicate or hijacked accounts.
Application sessions
Issue, rotate, expire, revoke, and protect the website session independently of the user remaining signed in to Google.
Consent and privacy
Request only necessary data, explain processing, preserve choice, and maintain an accessible password or recovery path where required.
Abuse and recovery
Protect callback endpoints, monitor anomalies, rate-limit sensitive actions, and support account recovery and identity changes.
Implementation workflow
Treat identity as a security project with a complete lifecycle.
Authentication success is only one acceptance test.
- 01
Define
Document the audience, account types, identity providers, required claims, consent, recovery, deletion, support, and risk model.
- 02
Register
Create the correct Google project and web client with approved origins, redirect URIs, branding, environments, and owners.
- 03
Integrate
Use the current library, submit credentials to the backend, validate them, and establish a protected application session.
- 04
Test
Exercise new, existing, duplicate, denied, expired, revoked, mobile, popup, redirect, recovery, and abuse scenarios.
- 05
Operate
Monitor sign-in failures, library changes, credentials, policies, suspicious activity, account support, and deprecation notices.
Practical reference
Keep each identity responsibility with the correct system.
Clear ownership prevents assumptions at the most sensitive point in the account journey.
- Google credential
- Evidence returned by Google after the user completes an approved sign-in flow.
- Backend validation
- Verification that the credential is authentic, current, intended for the application, and acceptable.
- Local account
- The CMS or commerce customer record and its roles, profile, orders, permissions, and lifecycle.
- Local session
- The application-controlled authenticated browser session after successful account mapping.
- Authorization grant
- Separate permission to call a Google API on a user's behalf when a documented feature needs it.
Current evidence
Verify the live standard, provider, and platform guidance.
Products, policies, interfaces, standards, and search systems change. Use current primary documentation and test the production implementation before release.
Frequently asked questions
Resolve the common assumptions before launch.
Each answer identifies a decision, responsibility, test, or operating boundary that the team should document.
Is Google+ sign-in still supported?
No. Google+ is retired, and the legacy Google Sign-In JavaScript platform library is deprecated. Use current Google Identity Services guidance.
Does Google manage the website session?
No. The application validates the Google credential and creates and manages its own session.
Is authentication the same as Google API authorization?
No. Sign-in establishes identity. API authorization requests separate user consent for access to specific Google services or data.
Can the old integration simply keep running?
A maintained product should inventory old scripts and credentials, migrate to current libraries, retest account mapping, and monitor provider deprecations.
Build current identity journeys from current requirements.
CMS Max can review the account model, supported identity path, privacy boundaries, backend validation, session behavior, recovery, and release tests for a modern website.