Why Google+ is dire for Content Creators
Update: Google will be closing the doors on Google+ for consumers sometime in the Sprint of 2019. Nonetheless, the rational on this post is still worth learning about because now I am seeing other social media platforms follow suit. More detail in a future post.
I remember way back in 2011, just like it was yesterday. Google+ was this hip new social media platform that required you to have a super secret invitation to join. I was enamored by this product. This was because I was already tied to the Google Ecosystem with Gmail, Android phones, Google Drive, the list goes on.
After I received my invitation to join the social media site, I was in love. I could use circles to aggregate my feed, all my Google services were in one spot. And I had a feed with relevant content just like Facebook.From what I read, that was largely the problem, Google+ was just like Facebook. And people who weren’t tied to Google services, really had no reason to leave Facebook and try Google+
Fast forward to today, and Google+ is largely ignored by the mainstream but seems to have a cult underground following similar to that of an Indy movie. I for one, and still a fan of this Indy movie. I have continuously posted content on Google+ for the last two years on my professional page.
Here is where things get weird:
Although, I do not have many followers from Google+, I receive LOTS of traffic to my site from Goolge+ posts. For years I was flabbergasted. How could thousands of website views come from a social media site that only has a few followers?
Google’s best kept secret:
By now everyone knows, Google makes their money from their search engine. As a matter of fact, the term “Google it” is a globally recognized verb in the English language.
That being said, Did you know that every post made on Google+ has a unique URL, and, as such, can appear in Google search results? Given the fact that Google is the world’s most popular search engine, maintaining a Google+ account and posting your marketing or product material on it is a good way to improve your company’s ranking in Google searches.
Google ranks its own social network higher when it comes to search engine optimization, so a post on Google+ is more likely to show up in search results than other web pages or social media sites. Accordingly, if someone wants to bring attention to their service or product, sharing content through Google+ is a fantastic way to garner more attention, especially since such a small percentage of Internet users are taking advantage of the Google search optimization that Google+ users experience. (Source for this claim)
I can attest. Using a few keyword searches, my Google+ posts and even comments on other posts seem to appear throughout the web on Google search engine results. And for many years, I have benefited from organic web traffic due to this arrangement. Not too shabby. :)
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