I repeat – get on Google+ ASAP!
| 06/03/2013 | Posted by Chris Lee under Blog |
Google Authorship displays the face and Google+ Circles performance of post writers
It’s been a while since I last posted about why companies should be on Google+, but a recent tweet exchange drove me back to the subject. Put simply, Google+ matters for a number of reasons:
SEO: Google – and Bing, for that matter – is very clear that social signals are increasingly part of its algorithm which determines where sites rank on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
Authority: You know those little faces you get next to some search results when you enter a query? That’s there because the author has sorted out their Google Authorship (sometimes called rel=authorship). It’s a very simple case of inserting code from your Google+ account to the web properties you publish on. As all my sites are on WordPress, I use a free plug-in.
Where is your eye drawn when you see those searches? The text snippets or the faces steering back at you? It also cites the number of circles that author is in, making it doubly important to produce great content and engagement and increase your social circles on Google+.
Collaboration and Content Creation: If you haven’t got involved in Google+ yet then you’ve missed out on the excellent Google+ Hangouts feature. This is pretty much live videoconferencing but Hangouts can be saved and posted to YouTube. Cadbury UK and Taylor Guitars are just two great examples of brands using Google+ Hangouts.
Content Virality: As Google+ usership improves so will the visibility – and therefore the potential virality – of your content.
The social signals and their impact on SEO is particularly interesting. Google owns this stuff, so will it reward +1s more than Facebook Likes and retweets etc.? I think smart brands recognise this possibility and, while brands were drawn to Facebook because the people were already there, I believe it’s the brands that will draw the people to Google+, precisely because they want those precious +1s.
Google+ is seriously untapped, which is a shame, as it’s a really useful channel. For more on the SEO aspect and potential of Google+ I recommend this recent podcast from SiteVisibility.
Google+ is here to stay. So get on it. Now!
Excellent post as always Mr. Lee. I just tracked back to it on my blog.