Last week, you were just going along planning the same old Search Engine Optimization (SEO) game, making sure your website was optimized so that search engines would rank it highly in search results. You were making sure you had a good keyword density and high quality backlinks. Then, Google comes along and throws you a curveball, Search plus Your World. Google updated Google Search by adding a deeper integration of Google+ into search results including suggesting “People and Pages on Google+” to add to your Google+ circles based on your search query. In one fell swoop, Google has completely changed SEO.
When Google+ Brand Pages first came out, we gave you some tips on the best way to use them, and why making a Google+ Page for your business should be a high priority in your marketing plan. However, now it has to be a must because just like we expected, Google has integrated Google+ profiles and posts into search results. This means you could jump high in the results based on your Google+ Page even if your website might appear lower in the rankings.
This boost in ranking could be Google-wide based on the total number of +1’s (Google’s version of “liking” something on Facebook) your page and website have received or by appearing in the “People and Pages on Google+” suggestion box on the right. It can also boost your ranking on a person to person basis: if a user’s Google+ connection has shared something from your page or website on the social media network, you will show up higher in their results. Not only does this change give you the ability to receive better rankings in Google Search, it also gives you a recommendation as people are searching for you or the product/service you offer. This comes in the form of +1’s located in search results. These recommendations could lead someone to do business with you purely on the fact that one of their Google+ connections has recommended you.
What to do to make sure you aren’t left behind?
You must now treat your Google+ Page similarly to your website and optimize it.
Keywords: You need to make sure your “Introduction” on your Google+ Page contains your targeted keywords (example: for us, those keywords are web hosting, colocation, dedicated servers, etc.). Those same keywords need to be in your posts as well. However, you do not want it to be blatant keyword stuffing. It needs to be natural because Google may push your page down for doing blatant keyword stuffing and it is still a social media profile–you want people to continue to follow your page. Obvious keyword stuffing can cause users to stop following you.
Followers: Think of your Google+ followers as social media’s version of backlinks. The more followers you have, the more credible Google will perceive you to be. However, it’s not just about the quantity of followers, but the quality as well. More well followed people, like Britney Spears with 1.5 million followers of her own, carry more weight than users with only 10 of their own followers. This works similarly to how Google gives more weight to backlinks to your website from universities or other websites that are very credible.
Content Creation: Similarly to how you would create a great blog post that people would link to, you must create content on your Google+ Page that will cause interaction with your followers. You want to create content that your followers will comment on, +1, and, most importantly, reshare.
Effect on Google Search Results
There is a complaint by some that the integration of Google+ into search results has made some results no longer helpful. This is caused by Google+ posts sometimes being shown that are not related to the search query. Why this might be true for some searches, it still makes Google+ a great tool for marketers to take advantage of. Google has now forced the hand of marketers into using Google+.
What are your thoughts on the integration of Google+ into Google Search and the change it makes for SEO as we know it? Please let us know by sharing your comments in the box below, tweeting us at @HostDime, or posting on our Facebook Page or Google+ Page.
I think Google+ still has a long way to go before it start playing any major role in SEO industry. It hasn’t achieved much popularity as yet and as of now it’s Facebook all the way.