Does your business need a Google plus page?

Most people would probably not consider Google plus as their top “go to” social media platform. In fact, most people would be hard pressed to even name Google plus in their top 10 choices. Still, you shouldn’t let Google plus’ relatively low popularity fool you.

There’s a lot going on with this social media platform. You have to always keep it in the mix because it is part of Google’s online family of properties. Whatever Google’s cooking up in some of its other properties is bound to have an effect on Google plus and vice versa.

Interestingly enough, Google has recently notified Google plus users who use their Google plus page for business purposes that they are removing their Google plus page. In place of this, they are emphasizing business owner’s Google My Business listing.

 

 

There are 2 takeaways from this recent notification. First, business owners are quickly reminded that Google plus is still around. The second takeaway is much more important. If you don’t post content to your Google plus page, it may have adverse effects on your online visibility.

The bottom line is the more pages your business has on the internet, the more chances you can pull people to go to your website, qualify them and turn those qualified leads into paying customers.

Google plus was originally envisioned as Google’s alternative to Facebook. While a lot of social media veterans usually don’t consider it as a good source of social media traffic, it does have a little bit effect when it comes to SEO.

Depending on your industry, you might want to give Google plus a long hard look. Not all businesses should put up a Google plus page. However, if you are within certain industries, you may be able to benefit from putting up such a page.

We’ll also walk you through some helpful tips for your Google plus page.

What is the difference between Google plus and your companies Google My Business?

Please understand that your Google My Business page is quite different from your Google plus page. The GMP page acts as some sort of overall dashboard on Google that helps local companies manage their presence locally online.

Google plus on the other hand is the place where you post content and news updates regarding your company. Think of it as the glorified “blog” for your business activities. Your Google My Business page however just highlights what people need to know to find your business.

The Google plus social network is built on the foundation of “circles”. These are groups of people that users segment and arrange. You can segment your family members, friends, contacts and  acquaintances based on these circles.

Instead of all your posts going to all people that are in your social circle, you can designate which groups get to see which pieces of content. In addition to helping users more precisely target their content distribution network, Google plus also enables you to follow other users and pages and “collect” their content based on several Google plus collections that you may have.

This makes for a neat, highly segmented series of content verticals. Despite all its great ideas, unfortunately, this service originally rolled out in 2011, never really caught on. In fact, it’s not unusual for digital marketing consultants and agencies to simply write off Google plus.

 

 

They think that it is a distant player to the heavyweights of the social media space like Twitter and Facebook. Given the way its going, it looks like it will never catch up to those giants. Given this background, is it even worth your while as a business owner to put up your company’s Google plus page?

In order to answer this question, we have to look at the big picture. As we mentioned above, the more authoritative pages you have online, it’s really important to get on as many platforms as possible. We also said that you have to be in the right industry for Google plus to be worth your while.

Unfortunately, the only 2 industries that are obvious candidates for a heavy Google plus presence are news content publishers and media companies and marketing technology companies. If your business isn’t in one of those industries, you can actually do fine without putting up a Google plus page.

How do those industries benefit from Google plus? Well, marketing technology companies and journalists crank out a huge amount of late breaking content. When you post these on Google plus, these can rank fairly high for a short period of time.

This is often enough for other social media platforms to pick up on these pieces of content. Unfortunately, if your business is not in either of those 2 industries, you’re not going to benefit from the quick ranking (but temporary) boost in visibility Google plus offers.

Can my business’ SEO improve with a Google plus presence?

This is a very common question. A lot of business owners as well as online marketing experts ask if Google+ has a positive role to play in search engine rankings. The quick answer is: not as much as you would hope.

We’re not saying that Google plus has absolutely no impact on your rankings. You can benefit. But it’s not as big as you think. In fact, your overall SEO chances are not going to suffer at all if your business is absolutely absent on Google plus.

 

 

Why the minimal impact?

Google has always considered Google plus social media. Accordingly, any votes that you get from this platform is factored and processed by Google’s algorithm as a social media signal.

The bad news is that social media signals form just one part of the over 200+ ranking factors Google considers in determining site rank. It plays a small part. Nobody really knows how small. But Google is on the record saying social signals do play a minor role in ranking.

The next important question to ask: do Google plus signals have a direct impact? The answer is no. however, it does produce an indirect benefit. This is due primarily to the visibility that you gain by publishing another page.

Here are 4 positive ways your SEO can be helped by Google Plus

Boost your local SEO chances: Boost brand recognition and content authority

Increased content lifespan through broader distribution

It’s also important to know that when you post on Google plus, your content can show up on Google’s search results similar to tweets on Twitter.

How to do well on Google Plus

As we have implied in the section above, Google plus should not be your top priority when it comes to digital marketing. Assuming that you have enough resources to spare on Google plus and you’re in an industry that can benefit well from it, here are several tips on how to get more results from Google plus.

Consistently post content with the right hashtags

Pick out hashtags that are related to your niche and always use them. This enables Google plus users who are interested in your niche to find your content.

Publish posts with bold headings and include text shortcuts

Write your post in a way that gets engagement. One way to do this is through the formatting of your content.

Always pair text with images

Avoid posting text only content. Break the readers boredom or attract their attention with a header picture and strategically placed images in your content.

Promote your Google plus content by joining niche specific communities

You know the niche you’re in or at least you should. Look for existing communities on Google plus and share your page’s latest content on those communities. This not only helps you build your expertise, but it gives readers a way to visit your page and from there, visit your local business’ website.

Leverage Google Plus’ collections feature

This feature acts like Pinterest’s pin board system. You like posts and you get to group them together so you can browse them easier.

Leverage your existing website traffic on Google plus by embedding Google plus links and sharing widgets

If people visiting your website are already on Google plus, call them to action to share your stuff on their Google plus page. You can easily do this by embedding Google plus widgets on your website.

Do you need expert assistance in using Google plus social media and Google My Business to get more customers?

If you answered yes to the question above, you are in the right place. WebyGeeks is made up of tried and proven experts with a long track record of helping local businesses such as yours thrive online. We’re talking greater business visibility using SEO social media marketing and other online traffic generation techniques.

Contact us today for a comprehensive plan to take your business’ online presence and visibility to the next level.