Google+ has gotten a fair amount of flack for being the social network that no one is on. Since it’s launch in 2011, it’s seemed that the best thing the average denizen of the Internet can say about it is thatit isn’t Facebook. SEOs, though, have been every watchful of Google+, sure that if any social network would be a big influence on the search engine results pages (SERPs), it would be this one.
This notion is driven home by comments from Vic Gundorta, the head of Google+, who refers to the service not simply as Google’s attempt at a social network but “the unification of all Google’s services, with a common social layer.” This, and the fact that G+ recently passed Twitter as the second largest social network on the Web, has made a lot of people wonder what, if any, Google+’s SEO value really is.
The value for Google
For Google itself, G+ is immensely valuable. The amount of demographic info that Google captures when people create a G+ profile and then stay logged in for searches and other activity alone is enough to justify G+’s existence because it allows Google to personalize and fine tune SERPs. On top of that, all of the +1′s, sharing, etc. on the social network act as social signals for Google, showing them which content real people really like. Social signals were used as ranking factors before G+ was launched, of course, but there’s something to be said about Google’s very own and how much of an impact they have.
The SEO value for you: small scale
On a small scale, Google+ helps you build both personal and brand influence, as well as reach.
Extended network: Pieces of content that you +1 or author show up in the SERPs of the folks you’re connected to — and the people they’re connected to. This extended network can quickly reach well into the thousands, if you’re well connected. The more followers you have, the more likely it is that your content will show up on more SERPs, provided they’re using Search + Your World.
Search + Your World: Called SPYW or S+YW, Search Plus Your World dramatically changes SERPs to include the aforementioned results from G+. When signed in to and searching Google, you can choose to include results influenced by your Google+ connections (“your world”). This is the default when signed in, so most people just accept the new SERPs without question. Some turn it off for purity’s sake, but a great many have come to love the feature because of the highly relevant results it provides.
Of authors and publishers: While using the author tag affects the SERPs of those in your extended network, author rank, the idea that the credibility of an author can lend credibility to a website, isn’t quite here yet. The Rel=author semantic markup that allows verified authorship for content has a partner in crime: rel=publisher. At this point, the markup has some uses that facilitate pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and connecting with brands on Google+, among other things, but there’s speculation that it could be used for ranking down the line much like the author rank could be. If your brand shows authority in a certain area, for example, the content you post on that subject would get an authority boost.
G+ SEO value on a larger scale
To put it succinctly: Google+ profiles have Page Rank. This means links from these pages have what SEOs crave: link juice. For a while, G+ pages had ranks that would show up in a Page Rank toolbar add-on, but that stopped because of a little URL adjustment, leading many to believe that these pages no longer had any rank whatsoever. This conclusion was a misguided one. Google keeps true Page Rank and how it’s calculated a closely guarded secret, meaning you can’t just look it up for any page, let alone G+ pages — unless you know the trick.
The lesson across all of this? That Google+ has some SEO value right now — and even more potential. Only Google knows if and when author rank and publisher rank will become standard ranking influencers, so using them is at the very least a smart practice, if not yet a typical best one. Google’s social network is sure to continue giving online marketers and SEOs something to scratch their heads about and experiment with. In the meantime, it’s definitely worth your presence, even if you don’t really know anyone on there just yet.
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