In 2011, Google launched Google+, thus replacing the short-lived Google Buzz and marking Google’s fourth dip into the social media industry. Tech Crunch declared, “It’s Social, It’s Bold, It’s Fun, And It Looks Good — Now For The Hard Part.”
What was that hard part? In my everyday use as a social media user, I have to laugh about the prospect of incorporating Google+ into my daily regime. I’m already pretty satisfied with my cache of social media accounts. I even went so far as to omit some: I quit Snapchat, and I swear I’m a better person for it. And Google+’s mission—“Discover amazing things and connect with passionate people”—already seems on par with how I use Facebook. That hard part was that everyone was pretty satisfied with their social media use, and it seemed like Google+ wasn’t bringing anything new to the table.
But what if I told you Google+ was useful?
I ♥ SEO
Here’s the thing: because Google+ is a product of Google, it gets all the perks of being Google’s little brother without having to work as hard. This means Google has no problem pushing Google+ pages to the front of search results, proudly advertising its new addition and using years of hard work to get it footing.
This means search engine optimization (or SEO) is less “optimized” and more like “screw it, we’re Google,” meaning Google will ignore traditional SEO standards and bump any Google+ page, as long as it has accurate matching keywords to dignify it. So maybe for personal use Google+ doesn’t seem so hot, but perhaps you rely heavily on search engine use for your content to be discovered. Now what platform are you publishing that content on? Hmm… Could that be, perhaps, a blog?
It’s free advertising!
Let’s say you’ve written a spectacular blog post but are having trouble getting it read. Sure, you’ve already shared it with folks you know, and even your mom shared it to her Facebook page and was viewed by all 27 of her friends, but at this point you might be more interested in getting readers organically—meaning, it’d be nice to get readers who don’t know you.
So here’s where Google+ becomes magical: just like how you might share your blog post to your Facebook, you can also share it to your Google+ page. And because Google’s upped and forgone the supreme laws of SEO, your post that’s been reposted to Google+ will appear within the first few pages after Googling the right keywords. It will even appear before the original post on your actual blog!
You now may be asking yourself, “How could I have been so wrong?” and have probably already started penning your apology letter to Google. Rest assured that you haven’t been alone in this thinking, and that there’s still time to save face. While others will continue to dismiss Google+, you’ll be the one with the secret weapon who’s getting their blog read. You’ll be the one utilizing the complete reach of the social media playing field and coming out on top.
And the moral of the story is…
Today you learned a lesson, much like I did only days ago when I first started researching this topic. Google+ has become an integral and game-changing part of SEO, and it can be the secret ingredient to your blog’s success. Additionally, posts from other social media platforms stand the chance of getting discovered too, and while Google+ doesn’t have to be your favorite social media outlet, you have to admit now it is of some importance. And because it’s only in the first few years of its existence, there’s still the possibility of it gaining momentum and becoming the new hit in online marketing. Give it a chance, and you’ll quickly see who’s having the last laugh.