'Google+ gmail bias' as explained by Rand doesn't seem to work
-
One of the reasons we are using Google+ is the email via gmail bias. Rand says the following about this mechanism: Gmail is another way to get this same sort of bias. You can see it in there if you're logged into your Gmail account, and you can see "Hey, I'm not following this person on Google+. Oh, we've exchanged emails, so they're showing me these results higher that they've +1'd."
We just started using Google+ and are determining which email address to use for this functionality to work. Of course we need to use the email address which we use for customer contact, but it's not very obvious which one that is from a Google+ bias point of view:
We are using Google Apps for email hosting. We log in with our 'backoffice@company.nl' email address, which no customer of ours will ever know about. And we send emails with this backoffice account on behalf of our info@ourcompany.nl email address, which is the email address we use for all our customer contact. Both of these email addresses are 'users' of this same Google Apps account. Emails sent to info@ourcompany.nl also appear in backoffice@company.nl. So we actually never login to info@ourcompany.nl, everything is being done in backoffice@company.nl. But for the outside world (our customers) it's all about info@ourcompany.nl.
Which account should we use for making our company Google+ Page? The 'backoffice' one, or info@ourcompany.nl?
I have been testing to find out which account offers the bias, but neither of them showed any sign of this. I hope somebody can help me out here.
Wouter Olthof
-
Hmm... what is your process for trying to reproduce the bias?
-
Thanks Christy! Do you perhaps have an explanation on why I cannot reproduce this bias with either of these accounts/email addresses (not even with the info@ourcompany.nl)? I have been testing this bias with multiple accounts already.
-
Thanks for the clarification, Wouter. Given that information, I would go with info@ourcompany.ni. As it is gmail-hosted (and not forwarded), and the only email address that the public interacts with, it should give you the greatest advantages described in Rand's video -- and any that Google+ may roll out in the future. Best of luck!
Christy
-
Hi JCurrier,
I am aware of the mechanism you are talking about. However, there is another mechanism which is independent of circles. Rand says the following about this mechanism:
Gmail is another way to get this same sort of bias. You can see it in there if you're logged into your Gmail account, and you can see "Hey, I'm not following this person on Google+. Oh, we've exchanged emails, so they're showing me these results higher that they've +1'd." in this Whiteboard Friday: http://moz.com/blog/using-google-plus-to-appear-in-the-top-results-every-time-whiteboard-friday
This means that if I post on my Google+ and my post has +1s, and you and I have email contact without circling each other then the Google search results will give bias to my post when you search for something related to my post, if you are logged in to the gmail account you used for contacting me by email.
-
Hi Wouter,
I think you might be mistaken on what is actually happening with Google plus. It doesn't matter which account you use. What is being discussed is when someone is logged into G+ or their gmail account, the search results give bias towards sites plus'ed by the user and people the user has circled. Essentially, the idea is that if you or a friend have plus'ed something (essentially saying that it is valuable), then you will probably like that search result.
For example, you are logged into Google with whatever account is associated with your Google plus. I am in one of your circles and have given a plus to a certain website. When you search for something related to that website, it will likely show up in your results since you are logged in, but might not have shown up if you weren't logged in. Since I, who am in your circle, have plus'ed a page or site, it follows that we are friends and you may find it useful too.
So, if you can increase the number of people in your market who have plus'ed your page, content, and/or site, the likely hood of other people in your market (eg. their friends) seeing you in search results increases.
-
Thank you Christy for your quick reply.
-
Yes, we are using Google Apps for email hosting. Both email addresses are 'users' of the same Google Apps account. (I clarified my post a little bit)
-
I mean the Google+ bias resulting from email (gmail) contact as explained by Rand in this Whiteboard Friday.
Wouter
-
-
Hi there, and thanks for your question! First off, I would like to clarify a couple of things:
-
Are you using Google Apps for email hosting, or are you forwarding your "back office" email address to info@ourcompany.ni?
-
There are a few ways that gmail can help you use Google+ more successfully. What exactly do you mean by the "Google+ email contact bias"? (I just want to make sure we are on the same page before proceeding.)
Christy
-
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Looking for a specific article by Rand or others
Hi Everyone, I am looking for an article (can't remember the name of it) that has these concepts. I believe Rand wrote one not too long ago but I cannot remember the name. Inbound links from Social Media Sites do not help your SEO. There is correlation but that is it. Traffic generated from Social Media sites may be an indicator to Google and a SEO ranking factor. It is the traffic not the link that Google is consider as a ranking factor. Google plus - so there have been many articles saying that Google + helps your rankings. I believe I saw one by Rand saying this is not true. There is correlation but not causation. I am trying to explain to my students how social media really benefits SEO and make them think beyond "the link". Any other articles suggested are also appreciated Thanks Carla
Social Media | | Carla_Dawson0 -
Is it possible to Merge a Google+ Page with Google Places/local Page on G+
I have seem to have a problem (well think its a problem!) We have a google+ page for our website/ brand (which is verified) and also seem to have a separate google places G+ page (the one with just two tabs at the top.. Photos and About). When you google our brand, google has added a google+ page link but this links to the places one and not our social g+ page. Is it possible to merge these two pages into one? ps i have added rel="publisher" directing to the main google+ page (not local) on the home page and the local G+ page is not verified. Ben
Social Media | | QGS770 -
Fetch for Google
Hi there! A short question from Holland: My developers made a mistake with a template on a subpage in Wordpress. When Google crawled my site again, Google found an empty page. The same day we loosed our #1 position on the main keyword and now we are on position #6. We restored the page the same day and asked Google to recrawl the page again (fetch for Google). But 48 hours later nothing changed. When I look in the cache date' the page still has the old date, while my competition has a newer cache date. We send some traffic to the page and did some facebook post on this page. Does anybody knows how to kickstart this page again?
Social Media | | remkoallertz0 -
Google+ Badge
I would like to place google plus bade on our site into footer(if that is good practice to place into a footer) but even the smallest size is way to long, even when I disable the cover photo. How could I do this the best way please? Thank you very much Iris
Social Media | | Rebeca10 -
Gain Access to Google+ Profile
We are having trouble accessing a Google+ profile for a client. We know the profile we want to gain access to, but the client doesn't remember the email or password. The marketing company they worked with before also doesn't know what the email or password is to claim the profile. We have tried contacting Google to gain access to the email, but they were unable to give us the login email due to privacy issues. If you have any suggestions to gain access to this profile, it is greatly appreciated. Please take in mind the following: We do not know the email nor have access to obtaining it We do know the profile we want to gain access to
Social Media | | flowsimple0 -
Is Pinterest's Embed a Pin good for SEO?
I was curious if by having Pinterest embed pins on my site will add SEO value... This would be used mainly on product pages for alternative images, closeup detail, any type of image to answer a customers question. I would accompany the pin with more text as another way of adding content to the page. Example on my site: Wicker Sofa product page with Pinterest Embed live. Also attached the screenshot of the code that is used by Pinterest pin embed widget. Hoping that extra unique content + social activity repins or follows, would help my store's SEO. Thank you for your answers in advance... 3uqUz57.png
Social Media | | wickerparadise0 -
RSS to Facebook and Google+
Hi, I'm looking for an tool which allow me to forward RSS content to a company facebook page, a company google+ page and a google+ profile. Suggestion are welcomed. Thanks.
Social Media | | Max840 -
Share This Count Vs Google Analytics - Why the difference?
We use the Share This facebook & twitter widgets on blog posts. Share this auto tags it in Google Analytics so we can see share count with in the analytics interface. Viewing the blog post I see the share counts as a lot higher than google analytics reports. Does anyone know why the count would be different?
Social Media | | Jeff_Lucas0