At first glance Google+ appears to be just another social media network but if you look under the surface, you’ll see the platform has been designed with a whole host of SEO (search engine optimisation) benefits, promoting Google+ to be one of the many factors to adopt as part of your campaign.
First and foremost, Google+ social content that you post on your Google+ page if relevant and useful gets ranked in Google organic results. This gives Google+ a huge advantage over Facebook and Twitter (although Twitter results have recently started appearing too, although much less frequently).
The Google+ platform also encourages people to add detailed content to support the individual or company’s advertising campaign. The About page of the Google+ profile offers the perfect opportunity to create backlinks to webpages and services, directing potential customers to important pages within your website.
With the introduction of the +1s, using Google+ is an important consideration for any business. The +1 feature emulates the Facebook ‘like’ button increasing the social influence of content assisting your offpage SEO but also included is an added onpage SEO benefit. If website content is +1’d, it improves the chance of a website ranking in the SERPs (search engine results page), leading to an increase in traffic.
An additional advantage of having the +1 button on your website, is that when activated, it triggers the Google bot to re-crawl and index the webpage
Tips for Using Google+
Grow your Circles
Growing your circles and interacting with your followers will encourage people to add you to their circles and to +1 your content. This will give your brand a wider target audience and add importance to your image.
Mention People in Posts
If you’re looking to grab someone’s attention try mentioning them in posts using the ‘+’ or ‘@’ signs.
Update your Profile Frequently with New Content
Google+ profiles that do not contain an update inside 72 hours would not show up in the “Related People/Pages” section of Google’s search results.
Add your Profile to Suggested Circles
Google+ Suggested Circles is a comprehensive directory of Google+ users designed to help Google+ members find relevant people to follow.
Post URL links
When updating your Google+ profile, periodically include a full URL and Google will automatically format it as a link, creating a backlink to your website. Be sure to take a liberal approach to creating backlinks through social media because some platforms dependant on their strategy may view it as spam.
