Google’s recent announcement of Search, Plus Your World places even more importance on Google+ for SEO. This addition to how Google returns search results is designed to make it easier for users to find information that will be of interest to them. Social media has been an important consideration for SEO for a while now, but Search, Plus Your World will be populating your search results with items that have been shared with you on Google+, as long as you’re signed in to Google. In addition, this algorithm change doesn’t factor in Facebook Likes, or Tweets.
So what does this mean for SEO?
How to Take Advantage of Search, Plus Your World
This change means that it’s more important than ever for your company to have a strong presence on Google+. Because Google is returning results that have been shared on Google+, the more your content is shared means the more often it will be seen by potential users. Creating content that users will want to reshare has always been one of the main reasons businesses use social media. Google’s social network is still new, especially compared to more established sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and I think a lot of people are still figuring out how to use it. On top of that, Google+ Pages is only a couple of months old. However, creating interesting, relevant and shareable content is the real reason social media is important for SEO, and Google’s just given every SEO a big incentive to use Google+ Pages.
Going Viral is Relative
It’s easy enough to simply advise a company to “go viral,” but this doesn’t mean every company needs to make a hilarious YouTube video. Obviously we’d all love to create an ad campaign so compelling it’s seen by millions of people, with a small percentage of those people converting into paying customers. Social media is important for business because it represents a painless way to interact with your clients and to build your brand. The way you use social media platforms will depend on your business. What one user finds compelling or interesting may be repellant to another. As with more traditional forms of advertising, it’s important to know your audience. Google+ is important not for the number of followers you’ve, but for the relationships you have with your followers. By building relationships on Google+, and sharing interesting, relevant content, your users will reshare your content, which will increase your company’s visibility.
Tyler Moore is an SEO and marketing consultant from Indianapolis, IN. Tyler currently works for DocRaptor, a web-based HTML to PDF converter. DocRaptor can also be used to quickly generate Excel files from HTML, and operates with an easy HTTP POST request.
