Google Plus for SEO: Best Social Network for SEO

A lot has been said about Social Media for businesses in the past couple of years. Most business owners agree that Social Media Marketing can increase brand visibility, promote user trust/confidence, and even generate more leads. But what about SEO (search engine optimization)? Can these social media networks actually help with your website’s SEO?

If the SEO of your website is your main focus and you don’t have time to fiddle-fart around on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Vine, etc. etc. etc., then I would recommend choosing Google Plus. A lot of businesses still aren’t using Google Plus, but it is in fact the most beneficial for SEO. So if you only have time for one Social Media channel and your primary concern is SEO, then Google Plus should be your go-to.

Is Google Plus “A Desolate Wasteland”?

NO, it is not! Google Plus is just the new kid on the block, so people like to talk about it a lot and give it a hard time. Plus (no pun intended), it’s a Google entity, which makes it a pretty easy target.

Here are two screenshots I took from Business Insider articles that were made pretty much at the same time, contradicting each other. Kind of funny…

So if you’ve heard bad things about Google Plus, then try to ignore it. It’s really just a lot of noise. Besides, you’ll be ahead of the game if you embrace it now – especially in the SEO world.

Google +1’s and Higher Search Rankings?

There was a recent study from Moz about the correlation between Google +1’s and higher rankings in the search engines. Basically, they’re saying that the number of Google +1’s for a page on your site can increase the search engine rankings and SEO of that page.

The article became somewhat controversial and led to a Google representative (Matt Cutts) responding, saying that Google +1’s do NOT directly affect rankings.

I personally believe that Google +1’s do not directly affect search engine rankings, just like the Google rep says. But that isn’t really the point. The point is, Google Plus (the Social Network) is good for SEO, period.

What We DO Know About SEO & Google Plus

While we may still be debating certain aspects of Google Plus for SEO, there are some things that are fact. And here are just some of the reasons why Google Plus is the best Social Media Network for SEO…

Content is crawled and passes SEO value

The content on Google Plus is just like every other web page. This is different from Twitter and Facebook. The posts on Google Plus get crawled and indexed, quite quickly I might add, and the pages have (and pass) Page Rank. Meaning, your content will show up in the search engines and your posts and pages will pass valuable SEO link juice by linking out.

Author images increase click through rates

By adding your authorship information to your Google Plus profile, you can have an image appear in the search results, which will increase the click through rate of your results. That may not increase your rankings (although it may…), but it’s still good SEO.

Author Rank can increase search engine rankings

Keeping in mind this Authorship is all tied in to Google Plus and your profile – Your Authorship can influence rankings! Google is using something call Author Rank to establish the quality of the content you create across the internet. Having a higher Author Rank can increase the rankings in the search engines for all your conten. Did I mention that is all tied in to Google Plus?

The bottom line is, if you’re not on Google Plus yet, do it today, especially if you’re looking to compliment your SEO strategy with Social Media and don’t have the time to manage all 7,883,297 Social Media Channels.

Once you set up your profile, make sure you take the time to optimize it. And for further reading, here is another Moz article about taking advantage of Google Plus for SEO.

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