Google+ and its effects on SERPs
-
Hi all,
With the recent launch of Google+ I've looked into the possible effects of +1'ing sites and whether or not it has a direct effect on other people with whom I'm connected within Google+.
So far I cannot see any direct correlation, however I running a bigger/wider experiement with more people to get a definitive answer.
What does scare me as an SEO, is that Google+ users will (most likely) use Google search whilst they are logged in, which, as we know personalises results based on a myriad of suspected metrics such as previous visits, personal +1, etc...
How is this going to effect the SEO world if/when a Google+ attracts more users.
Experienced this first hand when a client called me to congratulate a jump from position 9 on Google to first position over the weekend, which when I checked, the website hadn't shifted, the client was logged into her Google account due to the fact she had been playing with plus.
Thoughts?
Cheers
Aran
-
I'm talking about having the +1 button on pages of your website - e.g. product pages (info here). If there have been a number of people +1 a particular product then that may help the position of that page organically - I think even if you aren't signed in.
You wouldn't +1 at the SERP stage if you haven't been on the site but your friends might have done which could input into it.
All guesses though
-
Agreed CCA.
I don't get +1's on SERPs, when your google something and you get the SERPs you generally haven't visited the sites before, so why would you +1 at that point?
-
Aran,
I think that it will have some sort of an affect on the SERP (by considering your different circles) when being logged in to Google.
But also, http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1152948 shows that the +1 button at least has some impact on rankings and therefore we should all adopt it - I'm not sure it will ever be as popular as a like button, but, who knows!
-
I've conducted an experiment with several friends in my 'Friends' Circle within Google+
To start I +1'd a clients site whilst signed in to Google. Then I Signed out and went on to tweet the URL for another clients website and finally facebook shared yet another clients website (within another industry)
I asked my friends to +1, tweet and FB share a URL which I gave them.
Now when signed into Google the +1'd website (normally at 9th in Google) is now ranked 3rd with a note under the SERP telling me my firend +1'd the site. The website which received the Tweets is now 9th on Google, it is normally 12th when not signed in. Also a note appeared under the serp saying my friend had Tweeted the URL.
The page that received the facebook shares didn't change in position!
All the people concerned all follow each other on twitter, belong to the same circle on Google+ and are friends on Facebook.
Not a very well set up or executed experiement, I made it up as I went along and put into practise within 5 minutes of conceiving the idea. But interesting results all the same.
If Google+ takes off and people adopt the trend of staying logged into Google when searching, Social Metrics are going to have a huge impact on traditional SEO.
Now all we need is someone to setup a 'proper' experiement.
-
oh, you missed off Android and the efforts to takeover the mobile OS market!
Kowtow to Google.
-
Agreed, the number of personalised searches will increase if Google+ catches on. Is this the beginning of the end for SEO?
-
Google has crossed all the lines from being a pure search engine, to being the source of data. There are many people who, if you ask them, would tell you that Google has no data related to them personally. Most are quite mistaken. If a human uses a pc, Google is going to have tons of data available unless the person makes a very specific effort to avoid Google's services.
Gmail, Spreadsheets, Analytics, Desktop, Adwords, YouTube, Google +, WiFi, Chrome browser, translator, picasa photos, Google maps and I am sure there are a dozen other Google apps. Many of these services are independently very highly rated. YouTube alone is the #3 website in the world.
It really brings to reality the phrase "It's Google's world. We are just living in it." They are poised to further widen the chasm between themselves and the next closest competitor. Clearly they will leverage these resources to a greater extent in time.
-
I think that personalized search is making it much more difficult to get sales from customers who have an established history with your competitor. The introduction of Google+ will most likely increase the number of searches that are personalized.
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
-
Will YouTube Popularity Improve Website Google Rank?
Our YouTube Channel was endorsed by a celebrity and suddenly gained 22,000 subscribers. We are now posting videos 2-3 times a week and get a lot of engagement. Each video has an average of 10,000 views. The result of this is that we get about 200 direct visits to our website every. Almost twice as much as organic traffic from Google. Assuming that this is sustained over time, will it improve the Google of our website? Is there anyway to use the popularity of our Google channel to reinforce the ranking of our website? Thanks!!
Social Media | | Kingalan1
Aln0 -
Does Google give more ranking weight for Shares for One Social Network over Another.
We are using BuzzSumo to explore the types of content that generate the highest number of shares per article. Does anyone have data to suggest that a share on Google+ carries more ranking weight than a share on Twitter or Facebook, or LinkedIn? We have seen a recent case with one of our client's competitors where they significantly grew their Google+ shares within a relatively short period of time and gained a higher rank for a key search phrase that my client is also targeting. Thank you, Rosemary Brisco
Social Media | | RosemaryB0 -
Requirement full bleed image share Google+?
Hi everyone, Im sort of a Google+ nutter and I wanted to figure out exactly what is required for a full bleed image to appear for +1 share on the page itself. I got it figured out and I think it requires: canonical url og:image image wider then 506px type article or page (microdata format) But sometimes it seems that pages without a canonical url still show full bleed image when shared as link when I insert the url directly into a google+ post. My question is if this could be a cached version of the page where it had a canonical url? Don't really know if that anyone is interested but I made a simple tool that checks if a page meets requirements for having a full bleed image when share as link on Google+. Think I nailed it pretty close but can't seem to get the full bleed image to appear for the tool itself do:) Please dont ask. It's driving me mad already. http://www.googlewiki.nl/seo-checker/check-fullbleed.php Try it. Take a blog post url, check it with this tool and then see for yourself if it's accurate. If not I would like to hear very much as it would help me pin point it better! Examples of pages with specific no no factors for you to try are:
Social Media | | DanielMulderNL
http://www.copyblogger.com/google-authorship/ (img to small)
http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/14/5896979/gmail-api-isnt-the-end-of-email-its-a-new-beginning (no og prefix but works)1 -
Google + Business Page Custom url -too-spammy-long-url?
Hi to all, Ok so I was offered a custom url from Google Plus, greatly appreciated. Yet do you go ahead and add keywords when prompted? I mean if its your business page, and Google says you MUST add some sort of number or letter behind your custom url, do you add some keywords? Like ford for example sake. Would it be smart to put google.com/+ford-mustag-f350 So you add a couple of hyphens, and a few keywords? I understand the principle of shorter is better. But if your url is already like 15 characters, does a few more hurt? Or is it useless? Another example: Your Google page is tv repair man. Your Google offered url is google.com/+Tvrepairman But again it says you must add a number or letter etc. So do you add like your location? so tvrepairman-colorado or maybe no hyphen? Or go farther and go with tvrepairman-colorado-springs-co My point is, I am lost. It seems like for now its a one and done. You mess it up, your stuck with it for a while, and I cannot find any ideas online on how to work this. Maybe because its common sense, but just looking for some friendly and honest advice. Chris
Social Media | | asbchris0 -
Facebook Likes, Google +1s tactic - is this a good idea
Hello, For our eCommerce site, we're considering doing the following: When people call in to place an order by phone, we take their order and tell them while we have them on the phone that if they click the Facebook Like button and Google +1 button on our site's home page, we'll knock $3 off their total. We would just show them where the buttons are and refresh our screen to make sure the count went up by one like and one +1 when the customer said that they pressed the buttons. Then, we would continue with their phone order and just knock off $3.00 I may not do this just because it may be grey hat, but it seems 100% safe forever. If you recommend against doing this, can you think of any 100% white hat way to do the same thing? Thanks.
Social Media | | BobGW0 -
Google+ 7 Packs
Are the 7 packs representative of Google+ business listings or Google + Places listings? This is making my head hurt..
Social Media | | CsmBill0 -
Google+'s +1 for business....
I'm thinking (and I could be wrong) that eventually the number of people that have +1'd a site will begin to impact search results. After all, it is Google's platform. What are your thoughts on this? And do you know if having someone +1 your site is different than having them "follow" you or add you to their circles? Should a business have more followers or +1's?
Social Media | | juliaritz0 -
How do you believe Google's +1 service is going to affect SEO? What can we do?
So Google just announced the +1 button, which is there answer to Facebook 'likes' button: http://searchengineland.com/meet-1-googles-answer-to-the-facebook-like-button-70569 http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/30/google-plus-one/ They should begin showing up now on Google US. If you aren't seeing them, you can turn them on here: http://www.google.com/experimental/ I want to know? What affect do you predict these are going to have? Is there anything we can do from an SEO point to begin leveraging +1 right from the outset?
Social Media | | Tom-Anthony1