There are several other search engines, so you may wonder why do you have to involve yourself with Google+. Well, at least for now, Google Search has the corner on the search engine market. Google bounces between 63 and 67% market share. Bing comes in at around 18 percent, while Yahoo has about 11 percent. With all others sharing what’s left.
Between these three main players, it’s clear that Google Search is still going to be the most important search engine that you need to concern yourself with when improving your search engine optimization (SEO) to get more from your search engine marketing (SEM). By taking care of your needs for Google, you’ll actually improve your results in the other search engine spaces so it’s really a win-win.
Since Google owns Google+ it should be clear that Google is going to favor businesses who use Google+ over those who don’t. Google’s advice to webmasters is that they encourage you to be active and engage on Google Plus for best results. Since they are recommending it, it’s really best that you comply. But, what’s more is that Google + is very useful and has a lot to offer businesses who are marketing on the net.
Link all Google Together
Be sure to use social extensions to link together your Google +1’s with your Google + page ads, and search results. When your search comes up social extensions shows how many followers you have and other information that will encourage people to click through.
Become Relevant
Use Rel=publisher, and Rel=Author where appropriate. Connecting your websites with Google + and claiming your authorship will do more for boosting authority than almost any other action. In search results the things you’ve written will appear with your picture beside it. If you want to be seen as a thought leader, this is how to get more visibility.
Google Plus Local
Small local businesses can really rank well if they integrate Google + Local with their websites along with all of the above. You’ll even get a nice map to your place of business in results and other information. It’s a true win-win all the way around. What’s really neat is that if you regularly post to Google + status updates your posts will appear with your search. Even if you don’t particularly have a local business you can still leverage this technology for good for your business.
Sharing Via Google Boosts Traffic
Be sure to post updates to your status when you post a new blog post, appear in a new interview, write a guest blog post, etc… because these things, like mentioned above show up in search results, but also the activity causes your site to be indexed more often. You no longer need to submit your URL for Google to index your site, now you can just claim your Google + business page and link it all together.
Including Google+ along with other social media is an imperative in today’s online marketing climate. Google Search is still the winner in market share, so you may as well move along to using Google + in your business. The thing is, Google + offers a lot of benefits to business and even though you may feel forced right now to get involved, you won’t regret it when you’re having your Google Hangouts On Air.
Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting
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