Google Plus: SEO Influence Debated

The advent of Google plus has influenced SEO a lot and most people in the SEO industry will be familiar that one can see search suggestions, when they start their search queries with the + sign. For instance a search query ‘+ a’ would give one suggestions like +Allstate Insurance, +Audi USA,+ ASOS and on clicking one of these you will get yourself landed on the Google plus page of the company. Even though it seems like a beneficial factor of SEO, it’s highly doubtful on how many normal web users will start their search queries with the + sign. Some would probably look into this as a Google service influencing the organic search results.

At business insider I came across an interesting write up about the influence played by Google plus from experts. The first opinion came from an employee of the company that mattered the most- it was from Google employee Daniel Dulitz

His opinion was that surfacing the best content even without SEO is the goal of Google and it was in this interest Google are focusing on 100 or more quality signals and believed that they still have a long way to go. He also stated that the Google plus button helps to build reputation online and with changing times we need to update ourselves.

Based on his statements we can see that Google plus must be put to good use by business owners by building social network pages and connecting with their fans. Also getting content with rich snippets and people recommending content via plus one are interesting strategies to be played with. There must also be focus laid upon converting customers into fans with the page badge.

Sean Carlos shares his view that once Google launched direct connect one could see search results taking you to the Google plus page of the companies and if you perform searches while you are logged into Google plus then one would be invited to add the company to their circles.

Other experts too participated and share some interesting data that 57% of fortune 100 companies have a Google + page but 98% have not enabled Google direct connect.
One can see in the support pages of Google on how to enable direct connect by adding the snippet of the code on the site. Also only 3% of fortune 100 companies have the Google plus badge and only 11% of fortune 100 companies have +1 buttons.

Even though one can’t read too much into this data, we can almost get the message that a great amount of awareness is lacking from small businesses. Brand building and reputation management online are things to be focused more upon. It’s essential that steps are taken by these businesses to get themselves on Google plus ASAP.

The need of the hour also calls for these companies to hire social media experts to promote their websites online. Facebook and twitter are great social networks to promote businesses and Google plus follows.

Social media optimization is something which could play a major role in future rankings. For now, we can see links playing a major part in rankings this can very well be influenced later on by social media presence. Promoting our websites on social networks would involve in-depth understanding of the website features. Like in Google plus we need optimized pages and profiles using the features. To start with we must have Direct Connect enabled. One must have awareness of Google plus badges, button. Share photos, videos, connect with people establish a strong connection between your Google plus page and your website, post using hash tags, cross promotion and much more.

The Google plus influence on SEO will be debated for long but what all Small business owners need to do is to pull up their socks and get their company active on Google plus. Google plus is an opportunity to promote your site through an authentic Google service and this is an opportunity you will repent a lot if you let it slip right through your hands. So Plus this post and get started with Plus ones for your company

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