Brands must ensure they are using Google+ properly is they want to reap both the search and social benefits.
Brands must ensure they are utilising their Google+ profile effectively to ensure they receive both social and search benefits especially due to the recent growth in user numbers and brand followers on the social platform. With a 1,400 percent growth in brand followers since December 2011 and a reported user base of over 100 million, brands have a great opportunity to entice new followers into the fold. Whilst at a basic level the creation of a profile is essential, the inability to manage it successfully could potentially be as damaging as not creating a profile at all.
To reap the search benefits of Google+ brand pages must be fully completed with the inclusion of relevant information and keywords to heighten the chance of users successfully finding the brand’s page. Not only will this heighten the possibility of finding the page through Google+ search, it will increase the chances of branded pages and content being found in Google organic search engine results pages. Once keywords are added to a profile the likelihood of a profile being found in a search drastically increases, especially if these keywords are used multiple times, such as within the profile information and other profile links. What’s more, brand pages are much more likely to appear in the “Related People/Pages” search function within Google+ over standard user profiles, so businesses must ensure they are using a brand page rather than a user profile to help maximise potential visibility.
When looking at benefits outside of the platform, the +1 button can help a brand add value to its content through external searches. +1ing content within the platform can help increase the probability of content appearing within the internal search fields. From an outside perspective, +1ing content within a traditional Google search not only adds the +1 to a brand’s page, but also has the potential to alter the ranking of such pages for others when they search with Google. This is due to Google’s search feature “Search, Plus Your World”, whereby a user is fed personalised search results when they are signed in, which are based on the people they follow and interact with on Google+. Encouraging interactions and the +1ing of content and webpages is therefore key in influencing visibility in search results, both on and off the platform.
Once the page has been created, fresh content is paramount to ensure the profile remains visible. Of course, fresh content is pivotal to the success of any social media campaign, but with Google+ the lack of fresh content has the ability to effect search results within the social platform. A study by Ian Lurie found that Google+ profiles with no new content within a 72-hour period won’t show up in the “Related People/Pages” search function, therefore decreasing the visibility when users come to search within the platform. Fresh content is also likely to encourage regular engagement, which in turn will benefit the page’s visibility when being searched for.
Clearly, actions on Google+ have the ability to influence search results outside of the social platform. Brands must ensure profiles are utilised effectively and users are successfully engaged to help visibility inside and outside the network and therefore increase the avenues through which people can find the page and subsequently become new, potential customers.
