Google Plus For SEO – Feed The Beast
Posted on September 10, 2013
This post is a quick follow up on my post about how I got to number one on Google. In that post I never pointed out Google Plus for SEO and that is an oversight I want to correct now. Google Plus has numerous benefits for your SEO campaign and I think it’s time to highlight them so you can get busy on Google Plus (if you’re not already that is).
In a way I liken using Google Plus to feeding the beast – the beast being Google itself.
As Google Plus is a Google platform it quickly spiders any links shared on it and so can help you to get pages indexed quickly. I recall Eric Enge (a Google Plus, SEO ninja, worth listening too) recently saying in a Google Hangout that new sites can get indexed in like 26 minutes after a link is shared on Google Plus (if I’m wrong please correct Eric).
And, here is the real kicker, links when shared on Google Plus using the share function are do follow links. You should note that links just plugged in with http:// are nofollow links on Google Plus, so do the right thing there hehe. Not only that, individual Google Plus personal pages can themselves acquire Google Page Rank and so in time pass more link juice back – all good stuff.
Google Plus for SEO – Your profile picture can be shown in the SERPs
Another benefit of Google Plus for your SEO campaign is that you can link your website to your Google Plus page. When you do this your websites SERP snippets can show your Google Plus profile picture (like above). A study by SEO Body Builder (you gotta love that name!) concluded that the inclusion of a profile picture can increase click through rates by 38%. If you use WordPress you can use the SEO WordPress Plugin by Yoast to link them up. On top of that, by linking your website to Google Plus you can start to build up your Google Author authority, the more authority you get the higher your pages will perform in the SERPS – all good stuff.
Google Plus For SEO – Feed The Beast
Now, let’s go into the belly of the beast, the Google Plus +1. There is a lot of good in those little +1s you know. Mark Traphagan, a Google Plus expert, recently wrote about the lasting impact of the +1 on your SERP. Initially when someone +1s a post the post is shared to their stream and the +1 chalked up. The more +1s and shares your post gets the better as, like mentioned before, they will create do follow links back to your page and may get some social traction and traffic to your site – all good stuff.
The benefits of Google Plus for SEO don’t end there though. The +1’s that your posts acquire persist after initial sharing and impact the search results of those in the network of the person who +1’d. When searching on Google you might have seen some results that have been highlighted because a friend +1’d them? Boom! That’s the +1 in action – all good stuff.
Anyway, I hope you can see the benefits of Google Plus for SEO (and could make sense of the the melee of +1s and what not in the above). The long and short of it is if you’re not using Google Plus for SEO you’re missing a key ingredient in your SEO campaign so start to feed the beast! Once you’re on it get circling and start with Mark and Eric and if you’re still lassoing then circle me! Until next time, may your keywords always be ranking!
Google Plus Usage in Ireland
November 12, 2013 (9:32 pm)
[…] Ireland is WAY behind the uptake in the United States, which is commonly the way things go. I think Google Plus for SEO is a compelling enough reason to use it for those who have an online business – it can be […]