All the criticism and doubt that Google+ users were getting early on is now slowly disintegrating. More and more people are beginning to jump on the bandwagon, after having recognized that having a Google+ profile can indeed give users an SEO boost. Online marketing has exploded over the past decade; folks are doing whatever they can to get their website listed above competitors in search engine search results. Any way to (ethically) move up in the SEO rankings is something worth looking into for those who have turned to online marketing to improve sales or overall business and financial success. Google+ is one of those newer ways to move up the ranks, and now that people have recognized said benefits, the Google+ account opening frenzy has begun. But in order to take advantage of the SEO-related benefits that Google+ can provide, one must set up his or her account properly. This, surprisingly, isn’t as intuitive as one would like. We’ll take the time to first go over Google+’s benefits in more detail, and then follow that up with how to properly set up a Google+ account.
The Benefits
The following list will display some of the benefits that folks can receive from having a Google+ profile. It is illustrative, but by no means complete; there are many other advantages and benefits which we will fail to cover, but which are still there and waiting to be utilized.
- With Google+, you can now link all of your favorite websites into one, neat and organized place. All of your most visited sites and blogs can be placed side by side in a sort of central hub, making every site you generally go to even more easily accessible.
- Google will attentively follow the links that you post. As you receive more and more +1s, Google will throw you a bone by rating highly the link that you posted. The more +1s, the higher the value of your post.
- Social media finally makes getting in touch with the big names in your industry possible. Networking with them will help boost your SEO stock if they +1 your stuff.
- Google takes notice of author/publisher markup. It rewards those who are willing to put their name out there and take ownership of their content, because such conduct generally implies that your content is original. Most folks aren’t willing to put their name out there if they just copied and pasted someone else’s content onto their own page.
Tips
- Tip: Getting high authority profiles to +1 your post greatly boosts the value of your link. Google recognizes that if someone with hundreds of thousands of followers +1s your link, then that means that there is a very great chance that a bunch of his or her followers will see your link and check it out.
- Tip: This one is a bit obvious, but I want to mention it so people don’t underestimate the value of actions of acknowledgment. In Facebook, a like is a way of acknowledging that something someone posted has been of value to them. In Google+, a +1 is a way of doing the same. The more +1s you get, the higher your content gets rated in the eyes of the big search engines. Obviously, networking is necessary in order to get off the ground here.
- Tip: There are a lot of social media websites that don’t allow you to alter the content in your post after you submit it. Google+, on the other hand, is not so stringent in that sense. You can indeed edit your posts after submitting them. This gives perfectionists a great sight of relief, and we all know that there are far too many perfectionists out there, so that makes for a lot of happy people. Joking aside, this editing feature is of great utility, and something that we can all take advantage of.
- Tip: The rate at which Google indexes content is incredibly fast – nearly instantaneously. It’s a fantastic way to get your posts into the Google index quickly.
More On Authorship Markup
Having a Google+ profile in order to implement the Authorship Markup is pretty much considered a must.
Some benefits are:
- When you put your name and photo out there, that itself makes Google respect you more, because you are taking ownership of the stuff you are sharing. This makes the links you post more valuable than, say, a post made by some anonymous guest on a WordPress website. Google establishes you as a real person when you make an account with a profile pic and a name.
- Your CTR (click-through-rate) can improve greatly if you change your profile pic on a regular basis. People are curious, and often times, when they see that you’ve made a profile pic alteration, they want to know where you were and what caption you have beside that name. You get more exposure when you make these changes regularly.
Click here in order to set up your profile.
For business profiles, click here. For an example of a Google+ business profile, check out Networtech’s Google+ business profile at https://plus.google.com/+Networtechllc/posts
Business Pages
Including keywords that directly relate to what your business is about is a great way to get Google to rate your profile higher. This, obviously, will boost your chances of getting your business profile seen, as the higher your website appears on the search engine search results, the higher the chances that someone clicks on your link as opposed to the link of someone who is below you on the search engine search results. Make sure not to just throw every keyword into your website. That is the SEO version of spamming, and it will be deleterious to your site in the long run. You will lose credibility and actually get penalized for this. Google doesn’t like dealing with inauthentic folks – cheaters who are willing to do whatever it takes to get their website’s name to stand out in the SERPs.
Personal Pages
Keywords are not nearly as valuable here as they are for business profiles, but you can still use them. Chances are the only reason why you would want to use them for your personal page would be to promote your skills and occupation. The section of your profile dedicated to the listing of your occupation, put a description of what you have to offer, using the keywords you think people would use as search terms.
Reminder: Upon completion of your profile, make certain that the first sentence in your post is what you want the title to be. Google automatically makes the first sentence part of your title tag. As you are most certainly aware, the Title tag has a great effect on click-through rates.
The Publisher Tag
Also keep in mind that using the publisher tag is not a bad idea, but it does not have the same impact that the author tag does in terms of getting noticed by Google’s index. With he publisher tag, you’re not going to actually get that much of a better listing in SERPs, contrary to popular belief. This is one of those things that most people fail to recognize; most just go on thinking that the publisher tag and the author tag are of equal, that there is absolutely no difference between the two, and that using one precludes the need to use the other. This is a big mistake and one I would highly recommend everyone make certain they are aware of, because if you are not, chances are that you are losing out big time on SEO improvement opportunities. The reason why the author tag has more of an impact is because you get the image in the SERP listing. This makes it that much more attractive to click on your link than that of others. This isn’t the case with the publisher tag. You do not get the image, and for this reason alone, the author tag is considered a more effective way to improve your rankings.
Keep In Mind
Keep in mind that: not only does it take time to get yourself acquainted with all of Google+’s features, but that it also takes time to get your name out there. It’s difficult to get noticed by the Google index if you have a measly 4 or 5 folks in your social network. And building that social network doesn’t happen in just a matter of days. The progress will be slow and steady, but if you’re in it for the long haul, we will doubtless look back to where you are now and thank yourself that you schlepped along. Patience is bitter, but its fruit sweet.