By Nick Hoover
Last week, Google held its annual I/O conference and released a slew of new products. I thought it would be a good excuse to review three reasons you should be on Google+
1) Google+ is the second largest social network in the World
According to recent stats put out by GlobalWebIndex Google is now the second largest social network outpacing Twitter and trailing only Facebook. Google+ has over 343m active users. This is surprising news in the social media realm as Google+ is often compared to a ghost town. But after introducing a slew of very impressive features at their annual I/O event the number of active Goolge+ users is sure to increase. More active users means more eyeballs looking at your social stream and potentially more customers.
2) Authorship rankings are coming?
This has been a hot topic in the SEO world and signals are starting to emerge that you should at least pay attention to. In a great video posted by Google engineer Matt Cutts he describes several areas that Google is working on to refine their search algorithms. Around minute 4:40 Matt talks about new features that will identify an “authority” in a topic and rank their posts higher. You’ve probably already seen the connections between Google+ and search results.
Have you noticed search results with headshots next to them? that’s Google+ displaying authorship. Now becoming an “authority” in specific field will mean your posts will show up ahead of others. The only way you can get that is through your Google+ profile. Large brands should tread carefully here. Ask yourself if it’s acceptable for an employee to retain authorship/authority or your brand. Google has not identified how it will deal with a transfer of authority should someone leave a brand.
3) It’s Google
Google continues to dominate search engine land, with approximately 66% of all searches taking place on Google. If being found via search is important to your business model you should absolutely be on Google+. They are the largest search engine in the world and pour tons of cash into Google+. The more they intertwine Google+ with search, the more imperative it will be for you to be a part of their community.
Nick Hoover runs Niby Design Group, and consults with Angling Trade (and many others in the fly fishing industry) on issues related to websites and growing business online. See Nibydesigngroup.com
