Google+ and its effects on SERPs
-
Hi all,
With the recent launch of Google+ I've looked into the possible effects of +1'ing sites and whether or not it has a direct effect on other people with whom I'm connected within Google+.
So far I cannot see any direct correlation, however I running a bigger/wider experiement with more people to get a definitive answer.
What does scare me as an SEO, is that Google+ users will (most likely) use Google search whilst they are logged in, which, as we know personalises results based on a myriad of suspected metrics such as previous visits, personal +1, etc...
How is this going to effect the SEO world if/when a Google+ attracts more users.
Experienced this first hand when a client called me to congratulate a jump from position 9 on Google to first position over the weekend, which when I checked, the website hadn't shifted, the client was logged into her Google account due to the fact she had been playing with plus.
Thoughts?
Cheers
Aran
-
I'm talking about having the +1 button on pages of your website - e.g. product pages (info here). If there have been a number of people +1 a particular product then that may help the position of that page organically - I think even if you aren't signed in.
You wouldn't +1 at the SERP stage if you haven't been on the site but your friends might have done which could input into it.
All guesses though
-
Agreed CCA.
I don't get +1's on SERPs, when your google something and you get the SERPs you generally haven't visited the sites before, so why would you +1 at that point?
-
Aran,
I think that it will have some sort of an affect on the SERP (by considering your different circles) when being logged in to Google.
But also, http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1152948 shows that the +1 button at least has some impact on rankings and therefore we should all adopt it - I'm not sure it will ever be as popular as a like button, but, who knows!
-
I've conducted an experiment with several friends in my 'Friends' Circle within Google+
To start I +1'd a clients site whilst signed in to Google. Then I Signed out and went on to tweet the URL for another clients website and finally facebook shared yet another clients website (within another industry)
I asked my friends to +1, tweet and FB share a URL which I gave them.
Now when signed into Google the +1'd website (normally at 9th in Google) is now ranked 3rd with a note under the SERP telling me my firend +1'd the site. The website which received the Tweets is now 9th on Google, it is normally 12th when not signed in. Also a note appeared under the serp saying my friend had Tweeted the URL.
The page that received the facebook shares didn't change in position!
All the people concerned all follow each other on twitter, belong to the same circle on Google+ and are friends on Facebook.
Not a very well set up or executed experiement, I made it up as I went along and put into practise within 5 minutes of conceiving the idea. But interesting results all the same.
If Google+ takes off and people adopt the trend of staying logged into Google when searching, Social Metrics are going to have a huge impact on traditional SEO.
Now all we need is someone to setup a 'proper' experiement.
-
oh, you missed off Android and the efforts to takeover the mobile OS market!
Kowtow to Google.
-
Agreed, the number of personalised searches will increase if Google+ catches on. Is this the beginning of the end for SEO?
-
Google has crossed all the lines from being a pure search engine, to being the source of data. There are many people who, if you ask them, would tell you that Google has no data related to them personally. Most are quite mistaken. If a human uses a pc, Google is going to have tons of data available unless the person makes a very specific effort to avoid Google's services.
Gmail, Spreadsheets, Analytics, Desktop, Adwords, YouTube, Google +, WiFi, Chrome browser, translator, picasa photos, Google maps and I am sure there are a dozen other Google apps. Many of these services are independently very highly rated. YouTube alone is the #3 website in the world.
It really brings to reality the phrase "It's Google's world. We are just living in it." They are poised to further widen the chasm between themselves and the next closest competitor. Clearly they will leverage these resources to a greater extent in time.
-
I think that personalized search is making it much more difficult to get sales from customers who have an established history with your competitor. The introduction of Google+ will most likely increase the number of searches that are personalized.
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
-
Getting an error message when linking google plus profile.
When trying to link a Google plus profile an error message flashes and the "track this profile" keeps loading and doesn't progress. Does anyone have any idea of how to overcome this?
Social Media | | francoismuscat0 -
Is it important for SEO that YouTube and Google + be used under the same Google Account?
Hello - I have a client that has their Google Plus and YouTube under separate Google accounts. My thoughts are that it'd be best for SEO and awareness with Google that their active YouTube channel to be under their active Google Plus account. My question is: Is it recommended for SEO that we upload the videos to her prominent Google business account (they only have about 100 subscribers)? If we did this we would delete them from the other account to avoid dup. content. We are in a position where we can make this change easily if it is recommended and good for SEO--which I would think it would be. So we would like to know now if we should make this change before we grow the YouTube channel further, or if we should leave it how it is. Any insight would be very helpful! Thank you!
Social Media | | dirigodev0 -
Google + - 2 accounts - Personal and Work Account
Hi everyone, I know this seems like a really dumb question and I am pretty sure I know the answer but I am interested in hearing the communities opinion on the following issue. I have 2 gmail accounts. One for work and a personal one Work gmail account - It is ugly. Something like this abcdefghijklmnop@gmail.com (Don't ask...long story). Obviously I have it connected to my work email that looks like this...name@xdawson.com I created my G+ personal profile with my work gmail (abcdefghijklmnop@gmail.com) and I use the free version of gmail. I have also created my company G+ profile from my work gmail account. My personal gmail account has an empty G+ profile. Don't use G+ except for work. Lately I have been publishing a lot and I am starting to get lots of followers on G+. My suspicion is that Google really does not want people with 2 accounts. Should I be using my personal Gmail account and delete my work gmail account? I need to move my company page to my personal gmail account. I really don't want people to see my ugly work gmail account. It is ugly 🙂 Thanks Carla
Social Media | | Carla_Dawson0 -
Counting unique landing pages in Google Analytics: social vs organic channels
Remember the technique Rand posted for counting the unique indexed landing pages on a site? http://moz.com/blog/indexation-for-seo-real-numbers-in-5-easy-steps I'm using Google Analytics to compare this result for the "social" channel vs. the "organic search" channel. The idea is to see whether social or search delivers people to more unique landing pages. I would expect organic search to yield a significantly higher count, due to long tail searches for relatively obscure terms. We have an archive of over 500k pages that Google could be indexing, even if only a fraction of a percent of those might be getting social mentions. But that's not what the numbers show -- I'm seeing roughly 10% higher numbers for the Social channel than for Organic Search. Again, I'm counting unique landing pages here, not the total pageviews or visits. If anyone else here is monitoring these metrics, please chime in with your results. What's the baseline expectation for a large website with hundreds of thousands of pages of issue-centric user-generated content? Should search traffic provide 2x more landing page exposures than social? 5x? 10x? or 0.9x, as in my case? In short, I believe these numbers are pointing to an indexing/ranking problem following a recent site redesign.
Social Media | | mcglynn0 -
Difference between Google+ Followers and Website +1's?
Very sorry if this has been covered multiple times already… I can't find the answer anywhere… This is a basic question: Is there a difference between someone giving my website a +1 and being counted as a follower on my Google+ page? I run a website and a Google+ page for my brand, and these two things are linked. When someone clicks on the +1 button on my site, does that show up in the count that someone sees in the red box in the upper right corner of my Google+ page? And, when someone comes to my Google+ page and adds me to a circle, is that the same as them clicking the +1 button on my site? Or are these two entirely different things? I feel like the terms are used interchangeably, but I'm not sure if it's because they really are two different things, or if they're really the same.I ask because, when I look at my company's Google+ page, it says "+300" in the upper right, but when I see my website come up in an AdWords ad, it says "[Company Name] has 240 followers on Google+"... Why are these numbers not the same?Thank you!Scott
Social Media | | ScottShrum0 -
Setting up a google+ page for a decorating ideas business website
I am looking to set up a google + page for a decorating ideas website, should I create a business page or a community and where do circles fit in to this. Many thanks for your help I have seen how to set up but not sure where communities and circles fit in for business sites. thanks
Social Media | | Pday0 -
Expand your google plus circle
Since there is no way to promote your posts on google plus it is difficult to target the audience that is in one particular niche. What are good ways to connect to a larger circle if one is in a very small niche with very few professionals?
Social Media | | TVape0 -
Yet another Google Plus One question: Does it affect ranking for people that you are NOT connected to?
Title pretty much explains it all. If lots of people plus one (the new verb of 2011?) a site, is that site deemed 'popular' and therefore will appear higher up the SERPS generally? Or does it only affect those with whom you are linked via Twitter/Facebook/Google+? Or is it too early to tell yet?
Social Media | | seanmccauley1