What does this mean in concrete terms for marketers?
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 3:31 am
Distorted search results with Google+
OK, so Google+ can affect your rankings. But up until now we’ve been talking about rankings in absolute terms. In other words, as a kind of “average” ranking. But the impact of Google+ only really becomes interesting for a marketer when you take a closer look at personalized search results. After all, someone who is logged into their Google account will see different results for a search than someone who is not logged in.
How does it work?
If you are logged in and enter a specific search query, the chance that your – personalized – search results will contain articles that are only there because of Google+, according to Moz . Articles that would otherwise never be in the top 10 of results in 'neutral' search results. In fact: articles that may not even have been 100% optimized for the search results. How does it work in practice? If you share an article from your site on your Google+ page, your followers will of course see that article in their stream on Google+. But they will also see it when they perform a search in Google that is related to your article. At least: if they are logged in.
But it goes even further: if the people in your circles also interact with your post on Google+ (+1 or share), the same happens for the people in their circles. They will of course see your article in their stream on Google+. But – and this is at least as important – they will also see the article appear in their search results (if they perform a search query relevant to your article). The latter even happens if they have a Google+ profile, but are not really active on Google+. And so: the more followers you have and the more influencers there are who also share or +1 your Google+ content, the more people your content will also appear in the search results, regardless of whether they are very active on Google+ or not.
Google+ is becoming more powerful than Twitter
And this is where I think Google+ really has potential for a marketer. Google+ is perhaps even more powerful than Twitter from a marketing perspective: a tweet or RT of your article can certainly generate extra eyeballs and traffic. But with Google+, you don't just get those extra eyeballs and traffic from your article being shared or +1d, it also makes sure that you appear in the search results of a lot more people - even if they're not really active on Google+.
Yes, even Gmail affects rankings
jors2Something similar happens with Gmail, according to Moz . Google+ content from someone can suddenly appear in your search results, even if you don't follow that person on Google+. How is that possible? Simple: if you've already had an email conversation with that person via Gmail, Google concludes that the content from that person might be relevant to you. Okay, spamming? No, because that's not how it works. There has to be a real email conversation. One-way traffic has no influence on this.
No 'set and forget'
An important nuance is that there is a kind of time decay: the Google+ content does not appear indefinitely in the search results of followers. After some time (somewhere between one week and two months) that content disappears from the search results again.
This means that you need to rework and repost the content that is crucial to you from time to time. And stimulate interaction on that content again. Suppose you want to continuously score on the term 'used cars', then it is in your interest to regularly write a new article about it and post it on Google+, in order to continue to score for that term in the personalized search results. You can come up with a new approach for this every time, because your article does not even have to be 100% optimized to still be able to score on that term.
Some key takeaways for marketers:
Not on Google+ yet? Then this is the time to start. Admittedly, the masses in the oman mobile phone number list Netherlands and Belgium have not yet discovered Google+. But given the power and ubiquity of Google, Google will succeed step by step in making Google+ bigger and bigger. So it is not a question of whether Google+ will become big in Belgium and the Netherlands, but when it will do so.
Share your content. But don't throw all your site's pages on Google+ right away. That's pretty spammy and you'll quickly see followers drop off. But do it consistently with all new content you create from now on.
Try to get as many followers as possible and stimulate interaction with your content. Because the more your content is shared and '+1d', the more people it will appear in the search results - even people who are not really active on Google+.
If you want to consistently rank in Google+ personalized results, you need to consider the time decay. After a certain period of time, your content will disappear from Google+ personalized search results. You can then occasionally rework, repost, and re-encourage interaction with content that is very important to you – it is the only way to counteract the time decay of personalized results.
Google+ is a nice and strong addition to your SEO strategy, but don't throw the rest overboard. After all, not all your content is equally shareable and '+1able'. Moreover, not everyone is always logged into their Google account. And then you will not appear in the search results with your Google+ content.
Share this article on Google+
.
And you? Do you also notice a striking correlation between your searches and your Google+ results? Or do you think this is all nonsense? I'm curious about your opinion and experiences!
OK, so Google+ can affect your rankings. But up until now we’ve been talking about rankings in absolute terms. In other words, as a kind of “average” ranking. But the impact of Google+ only really becomes interesting for a marketer when you take a closer look at personalized search results. After all, someone who is logged into their Google account will see different results for a search than someone who is not logged in.
How does it work?
If you are logged in and enter a specific search query, the chance that your – personalized – search results will contain articles that are only there because of Google+, according to Moz . Articles that would otherwise never be in the top 10 of results in 'neutral' search results. In fact: articles that may not even have been 100% optimized for the search results. How does it work in practice? If you share an article from your site on your Google+ page, your followers will of course see that article in their stream on Google+. But they will also see it when they perform a search in Google that is related to your article. At least: if they are logged in.
But it goes even further: if the people in your circles also interact with your post on Google+ (+1 or share), the same happens for the people in their circles. They will of course see your article in their stream on Google+. But – and this is at least as important – they will also see the article appear in their search results (if they perform a search query relevant to your article). The latter even happens if they have a Google+ profile, but are not really active on Google+. And so: the more followers you have and the more influencers there are who also share or +1 your Google+ content, the more people your content will also appear in the search results, regardless of whether they are very active on Google+ or not.
Google+ is becoming more powerful than Twitter
And this is where I think Google+ really has potential for a marketer. Google+ is perhaps even more powerful than Twitter from a marketing perspective: a tweet or RT of your article can certainly generate extra eyeballs and traffic. But with Google+, you don't just get those extra eyeballs and traffic from your article being shared or +1d, it also makes sure that you appear in the search results of a lot more people - even if they're not really active on Google+.
Yes, even Gmail affects rankings
jors2Something similar happens with Gmail, according to Moz . Google+ content from someone can suddenly appear in your search results, even if you don't follow that person on Google+. How is that possible? Simple: if you've already had an email conversation with that person via Gmail, Google concludes that the content from that person might be relevant to you. Okay, spamming? No, because that's not how it works. There has to be a real email conversation. One-way traffic has no influence on this.
No 'set and forget'
An important nuance is that there is a kind of time decay: the Google+ content does not appear indefinitely in the search results of followers. After some time (somewhere between one week and two months) that content disappears from the search results again.
This means that you need to rework and repost the content that is crucial to you from time to time. And stimulate interaction on that content again. Suppose you want to continuously score on the term 'used cars', then it is in your interest to regularly write a new article about it and post it on Google+, in order to continue to score for that term in the personalized search results. You can come up with a new approach for this every time, because your article does not even have to be 100% optimized to still be able to score on that term.
Some key takeaways for marketers:
Not on Google+ yet? Then this is the time to start. Admittedly, the masses in the oman mobile phone number list Netherlands and Belgium have not yet discovered Google+. But given the power and ubiquity of Google, Google will succeed step by step in making Google+ bigger and bigger. So it is not a question of whether Google+ will become big in Belgium and the Netherlands, but when it will do so.
Share your content. But don't throw all your site's pages on Google+ right away. That's pretty spammy and you'll quickly see followers drop off. But do it consistently with all new content you create from now on.
Try to get as many followers as possible and stimulate interaction with your content. Because the more your content is shared and '+1d', the more people it will appear in the search results - even people who are not really active on Google+.
If you want to consistently rank in Google+ personalized results, you need to consider the time decay. After a certain period of time, your content will disappear from Google+ personalized search results. You can then occasionally rework, repost, and re-encourage interaction with content that is very important to you – it is the only way to counteract the time decay of personalized results.
Google+ is a nice and strong addition to your SEO strategy, but don't throw the rest overboard. After all, not all your content is equally shareable and '+1able'. Moreover, not everyone is always logged into their Google account. And then you will not appear in the search results with your Google+ content.
Share this article on Google+
.And you? Do you also notice a striking correlation between your searches and your Google+ results? Or do you think this is all nonsense? I'm curious about your opinion and experiences!