Has Google+ shut down? What happened to Google+? Is Google plus still active?
Well, these speculations are just half-truth. Actually, Google plus has only shut down its public version (for consumer use) in 2019 due to the low volume of usage but Google plus for businesses is still active & helping businesses make the most from it.
Google+ is still a trending social media network for businesses of all kinds & sizes and is a great platform to connect & increase the business’s ranking over the search engine (because Google+ is Google).
“65% of businesses in a survey have said that Google+ is a top social media site they want to know more about.”
Being on Google+ is more than about signing up and sharing photos, it’s a holistic platform that works in tandem with Google search. The genius social media platform has the ability to:
Launched in 2011, Google plus (Google+) is a social media platform by Google that can be made off of your Business’s Google account. If you already have a Google account, you can easily create your Google plus for business page.
Here instead of posting any content on feed, you post it in the circles - different circles (just like Facebook groups), you can create based on your contacts, friends, family, colleagues, employees, or other acquaintances. You can decide the circle by segmenting people around you, where you would want to post your content/information to get further click-through.
Now, we know what is Google plus for business. Google plus is a great platform to increase business visibility, attract & nurture great leads. Want to know how? In the following blog post, you are about to know about 4 reasons how Google plus for businesses is a great thing, and in addition, you will also get Google plus for business tips (which is the leading brand’s success).
People say that “Google plus is not another social media platform”. Guess we have to second that motion because Google+ posts can be crawled & indexed and can appear on the search engine results (which is not the case with Facebook & Twitter posts!)
A social media platform that is indexable, isn’t it great? Adding a wealth of information as sharing blog posts, deals or offers, etc on Google plus for business page, it is the best way to
Rumor has it that Google+ content crawls & indexes faster than content posted on any other websites, the reason being is, Google prefers to crawl & rank its own social media network faster. Google even previews posts on G+ and the ones with the rich snippets, profile pictures, media gets more positive real estate in rankings.
Recall that time as a kid, when seeing someone having a brand new bag of a famous cartoon character in school, you would urge your parents to buy that same bag.
That’s what Google+ does to your business. Google+ reviews are the best way to convince people to buy from you. If you have positive reviews of your business on G+, prospects are definitely going to keep it in their head while planning to buy from you.
“Research has it that 90% of online customers’ buying behavior is based on online reviews.”
Google+ reviews help to build other would-be buyers’ trust and lead to website click-through and sales.
Google understands the relevance of having information shared that can help local buyers (especially the 50% people who are looking for local businesses over the web via mobile devices).
Google wants to help businesses in every way to be found online. Local businesses get helped from Google+ because it displays their location maps, local reviews, addresses, etc-- which buyers are looking for online.
Google announced that it has 1.2 million new community joins daily.
G+ communities are groups that are created on specific subjects (from gadgets to education) to create a network of people who would like to hear & express on that subject.
Pro tip - If you are starting with Google+ and don’t have a following yet, being active on communities can really help, you will have tons of communities out of which you can look & target for the one matching to your business needs.
Do you know some workplaces use Google+ communities as an internal social media network?
Google + doesn’t get huge SEO benefits but it hurts your SEO efforts either. Google+ helps with gaining positive social signals (engagement, share, link, and other factors that tell people are finding your posts helpful/interesting). And social signals are a small part of the search algorithm, they don’t have a direct impact on ranking, but it helps to support in uplift your SEO efforts, by:
Which altogether helps a website perform positively in the Google search engine rankings.
These are the 4 great reasons why you should think of getting active on Google+. Now let’s discuss Google plus for business tips that can get you increasing social shares & search engine visibility.
Search for Google plus, create business pages on it, and implement the following tips.
Add attractive visuals related to your business, maybe its headquarters, office space, insiders, and events to your Google Plus for Business page.
The key difference between the G+ and all other social media platforms is that it (Google+) is the product of Google - that gives great SEO value - so use that.
Note: If you are making a page for the first time, keep in mind to select your local business or place as your business type.
Add a rel=publisher markup on your website. The reason for doing this is to connect Google+ and your website.
So when someone will search for you on Google, along with your website, you will see your Google+ page on the right side of search results.
The audience can view your page’s information on the search engine and follow it from there only. This will help to grow your audience over Google+, which will stay connected to your brand.
To make your G+ page effective, it is crucial to target the right audience. So take the help of your marketers & identify and find answers to the questions like:
By knowing this, you can create & share effective content --- which will help target, attract & nurture the right audience.
Work on increasing your page’s followers list. Add professional acquaintances, and customers to increase your list.
When you reach a higher number of followers, you will have the number of followers appear next to the link on the search results. When your search results will show a higher number of followers, more people would want to connect & know about your brand.
Communities are underrated but are an effective way to increase the brand awareness. With communities, you can connect with potential clients, strategic partners & other key peers from the industry.
Let’s suppose you are the manager of a service firm, and your clients are local or small businesses. In order to accumulate those clients & connect with them, you decide to build a community, where those businesses can connect & share some insights, and viewpoints & connect with your brand on a whole new level. Don’t you think it will help your brand to get broader visibility & recognition?
There are so many communities that haven’t created one, you can stay ahead of the curve & create one!
Focus on building the brand’s credibility. Try earning some legit reviews from past clients/customers.
Extend a Google+ review link to them & ask them to share their honest reviews about your business. And once you have them, don’t forget to cater to them - whether negative or positive. If the reviews are positive - use gratuitous words, and if they are negative ones - humbly reconcile the cause of that negative remark.
Make a practice to follow other businesses and peers in your work industry. Doing this can:
The +1 button as per Google is a shorthand for “this is pretty cool, you should check this out”. You should add this to your website. The +1 button gives anything a stamp of approval. The +1's can help people as friends, contacts, and buyers on the web find the best stuff when they search.
When someone promotes your site with a share or +1 widget from your site, it eventually helps in improving the site visibility for people across their extended Google network, which involves Gmail contacts and also other social connections Google hunts from Twitter and Facebook!
People can earn a lot of traffic from Google+. While sharing the link, first do it from your business page and then from your personal profile (as people like to connect to a personal profile the most).
So ask your marketers to come into play and while dumping links, they should leave a personalized comment on the link - in the form of like a curious question or sentence.
This will increase the likelihood of receiving comments, 1+s, likes, and other social shares.
Search for Google plus, create a profile on it, and make sure you don’t do the following things:
Don’t skip ensuring that your profile or page contains all the relevant information that it should.
Don’t assume that customers will come to you. You will have to make the first move.
Don’t post too much or don’t get overboard while evoking an interaction with the audience. Doing this can cut you out as a spammer, and you will have great difficulty getting headway again in the desired community.
The one main thing businesses often forget to do is to prepare a Google+ for business page.
So these were the Google plus for business tips via the do’s and don’ts list, analyze them, use them alongside your digital marketing agency, and share them to help others.
Why Google+ for Business pages? Because Google+ is a social network platform by Google that gives businesses an upper hand in boosting their website’s visibility, traffic, and brand authority.
With this guide, it is clear that you cannot underestimate the capability of Google+ ever. Google+ is still active and opens avenues for websites to soar high in the search results.
So businesses if you are willing to up your social media game, don’t forget to search for Google Plus, create an account & page on it, and use the above-mentioned tactics to make the most with the help of our social media marketing services.
Let’s start by giving you a free social media analysis!
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