Purchasing a Google Plus Profile
-
A client of mine has the opportunity to purchase a google plus profile from a now defunct competitor. Essentially the profile is in tens of thousands of circles, so it may be a decent idea just from a marketing standpoint. When it comes to SEO I am wondering about a few things
-
Is this against Googles rules?
-
Has there been any proof of authorship playing a role in SERP rankings? So if there was an article where the author was in 50 circles compared to the same article where the author was in 50,000 circles would it effect the rankings at all?
-
Have there been any studies done that show that the +1 (from Google Plus users) effects SERP rankings?
Sorry for all the questions, but this is an interesting opportunity. Thanks in advance!
-
-
I think that any study would have to be case specific to be worth anything. A circle with two influencers or two popes would be far more valuable than a circle with 5000 drunks. And at the same time who YOU are and what YOU produce is going to make all of the difference. If you are putting out crap nobody is going to pay attention to you and if they do pay attention to you it is really going to be damaging to your brand.
-
That is really the million $ question, right? I have been searching all over to find valuation numbers for Google+ but can;t find them. Have you (or anyone else) seen any studies with this info?
-
It's easy to buy lots of fake circles for your page. I would verify that the 50,000 circles that the page has are indeed real people, and that content that's posted there gets real engagement. By quantifying how much engagement posts on the page get, and coming up with a dollar amount of how much that engagement is worth to your business, you should be able to determine whether the page is a good buy or not.
-
Good question. It is actually a business page not a profile.
-
I had imagined it being a bit more complicated than just switching the name. The page in question (not profile as I mistakenly wrote before) is a enthusiast group. So it would be like a widget company paying to buy a widget enthusiast group's page.
The additional power would come from the fact the widget company could promote their content to the enthusiast group. I would imagine it would also increase the circle count of the author as well.
-
Can't stress enough how much I agree about it being a bad investment and that just because there's people in the circles it doesn't mean any of them will stick around once it changes hands.
-
First of all, is this a personal profile or a business profile? Because right now authorship is only for individuals, not brand pages. For your questions:
-
I have not seen anything explicitly against selling a Google account, but you might want to double check on that.
-
Google has said that authorship does not currently play a role in Google's algorithm, but many people believe it will in the near future. However, the authority of an author will likely be based on more than just circle count (where the writer writes, engagement their content receives, etc)
-
+1 do affect SERP rankings, but only for your connections that are logged into their Google accounts.
-
-
I can tell you that is probably a very bad investment.
Google's rules are very clear about being transparent with your actions on Google +
https://developers.google.com/+/policies
Google pays attention to names very closely. When you're client or friend
changes the name of the business to his and the name of the other gentlemen to his Google will find out and they will ban the site
http://searchengineland.com/will-google-penalize-chromebooks-advertorials-149452
-
yes it's very much against the rules
-
yes there's a lot of proof of authorship playing a large role (primarily on blogs) but as an individual Google dose grade you and authorship tricks like this one will not go over well. You'll most likely be penalized. I do not have any information about 50 circles compared to the same article with the author with 50,000 circles. I'm sure you can Google that however it does make a difference you have to actually be the person that gained the 50,000 Circle users. Plus the users are going to abandon him once he takes over for the person selling it.
-
There have been quite a few studies done on the impact of social media a.k.a. Google + and all the rest collectively playing a large role or small role in your search engine results. You can type better and to search on Moz and find that.
Lastly if you want to help your friend. Prevent them from doing this here is the beginning of what Google has to say about all this and it gets a little bit worse for people trying to buy their way into rankings
Google+ Platform Developer Policies
Guidelines
To help ensure your application's success as well as to promote a healthy community, we require that all Google+ API developers follow these guidelines.
<dl>
<dt>Put the user first</dt>
<dd>Build something that Google+ users will love.</dd>
<dd>Encourage useful sharing and give users meaningful choices about who they share with.</dd>
<dt>Be transparent</dt>
<dd>Be honest about the intention of your application.</dd>
<dd>Show users what you will do on their behalf and get their explicit permission before you do it.</dd>
<dd>Be clear about what is being sold via your application and post your terms of sale.</dd>
<dt>Respect user data</dt>
<dd>Keep users' private information private, in accordance with your privacy policy.</dd>
<dd>Use any data you collect to improve users' experience.</dd>
</dl>
I hope I have been of help,
Thomas
-
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
-
Social media signals and their roles in Google rankings
Hello, I keep on hearing that social media signals have a role in the way Google ranks pages and sites, but for now, I haven't seen any hard evidence of that. Like any other company, we have pages on facebook, linkedin, google plus and twitter, to which we post daily. No, there are no clients coming in from social media, so I was wondering if it's worth investing time in adding every day updates, unless those count in ranking on Google. What do you think, is there a link between social media and Google rankings, and how much does this weight in ranking my sites? Thank you
Social Media | | anitawapa0 -
Graphics tool for social media profiles etc
Hi Can anyone recommend a free or v cheap graphics tool for social media company page profiles etc Ideally looking to be able to upload a company logo that then gets converted into all profile image sizes, preferably with a banner option too and ideally with related extras like favicon creation etc Anyone know of one ? (I have tried Pablo by Buffer but does images for social posting only) All Best Dan
Social Media | | Dan-Lawrence0 -
Best way to create content in Google Plus to help SEO
Hi, I would like to know what is your experience about how to create content for Google+ in order to improve your SEO. I mean, tips like content length, opitmization, links, hashtags, and so on... What do you think? How would you integrate this strategy with the other ones (facebook, twitter, blogs, etc.) Thank you.
Social Media | | teconsite0 -
How to implement products in facebook to generate maximum traffic to site and facebook profile page?
Lets take the example of a hotel reservation site offering 500 hotels. Any suggestions on how to present the 500 hotels within their facebook page so that they generate maximum traffic and interaction? No intention to offer checkout on facebook. E.g. adding image of each hotel in the photo album with link to website and some information about hotel. Any ideas? Any good posts or articles on the topic?
Social Media | | lcourse0 -
Is it worth setting up a Google Plus page for your blog?
Hi All, OK we all know the merit in G+, Authorship etc. I'm a regular user on G+ and I work hard to keep my profile up to date and with fresh content. I have no doubt my increased number of followers has helped my blog rank (which my G+ account is linked to). My question is - is there any merit at all in setting up a separate page for my blog so I can get +1s for it (probably very few). Much like any company page that gets +1s and people to follow that company. Or is this just plain silly and I should concentrate on building my personal profile? Thanks
Social Media | | bradkrussell0 -
Personal & Business Google+ Pages - which gives SEO juice?
Hi i set up a personal Google+ page and added a business page for my website www.over50choices.co.uk. The business page is linked to my site, but my personal profile "James Price" has the authorship and my blog, youtube, twitter accounts for over50choices linked to it - do i need to link all these accounts to my Google+ business page to get maximum SEO juice or will my personal page get picked up? Do i need to transfer all the social accounts to my business profille - help!? Thanks James
Social Media | | AshShep11 -
Dear SEOMoz and SEOMoz pro members, can any of you spare a Google + invite for a fellow pro member? please?!
[email removed by staff -- like comments say, let's PM this information rather than have it indexed]
Social Media | | richcowley1