Michael Mothner\u2019s article on Inc.com, \u201c6 Things You Don\u2019t Know About Google+,\u201d paints a clear picture of the search giant\u2019s intentions when it created Google+and how it still has a lot of potential for your business.<\/p>\n
1. It\u2019s not a social network:<\/strong> While its layout looks very similar to Facebook, it\u2019s not trying to connect people the same way. Instead, Google+ was engineered to introduce the +1 button.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time that +1 Button is clicked, it feeds Google\u2019s advertising engine, allowing them to match more targeted ads to you and everyone connected with you through your Google account,\u201d says Mothner. \u201cMore data means better targeting, which in turn makes Google more money.\u201d \u201cHere\u2019s how: Mike clicks a +1 button, essentially indicating a \u2018social endorsement\u2019 of a particular product or site. Later, Jim, who is a Gmail contact of Mike’s, does a search and that site shows up, it shows up with a picture of Mike under that listing and his \u2018endorsement\u2019 of the search result.\u201d<\/p>\n The more people in your Google+ network, or your \u201c+1 ecosystem\u201d as Mothner calls it, means you\u2019ll have more positive rankings and more visibility. \u201cThat means the users or companies that I did add to my Circles have had a major\u2026impact on my search results ever since Google introduced \u2018Search + Your World,\u2019\u201d says Mothner. \u201cIn a sense, it is the very mediocrity of Google+ adoption that creates the opportunity for your business to get a payoff from using it.\u201d<\/p>\n 4. Google+ is great for reputation management: <\/strong>Businesses want to control their reputation, but that\u2019s becoming more difficult with so many being able to post negative reviews without giving you the chance to rectify the negative experience. While Google+ doesn\u2019t allow you to remove those negative posts, it does give you the opportunity to force them out of top spots.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have a comprehensive Google+ listing, you can almost certainly get a top spot under searches for your company. That’s something that you control, is positive, and will push those pesky negative posts farther down the search results page,\u201d says Mothner.<\/p>\n
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\n2. Adding the +1 button will boost your SEO rankings:<\/strong> \u201cGoogle says that adding +1 button integration to your web site won\u2019t directly affect your rankings, but that is misleading. It will absolutely affect your SEO rankings, albeit indirectly,\u201d says Mothner.<\/p>\n
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\n3. Active Google+ users dominate search results:<\/strong> Even if you don\u2019t use Google+ very often, chances are that you use Google multiple times every day.<\/p>\n