Although many experts believe that Google+ isn’t much of a competitor to other social networks, two world-renowned brands have admitted to using it for its SEO benefits. In a report made by The New York Times, it was revealed that coffee giant Starbucks and The Economist are taking advantage of Google’s social media platform to improve their search placement online.
New York Times reporter Claire Cain Miller said that while Google’s social media platform looks like a “ghost town” as compared to Facebook and other popular social networking sites, Google+ is still essential to Google’s future since it is a “hub” for all of the tech giant’s products. When a user signs up for Google+, Google can learn more about who that person is, his preferences and location among other things, just simply from how he interacts with services like Gmail, Search, YouTube, Maps, and so on.
This data and information are highly coveted by advertisers as it allows them to create or promote specific products and services to a targeted group of people. As you may know, advertisers are one of Google’s main sources of income so it isn’t really surprising that the tech giant refuses to let go of Google+ despite its limited popularity. In fact, Google itself also utilises the data obtained from Google+ to further improve its services and enhance overall user experience.
But if there’s one group of users that can benefit the most from Google+, it has got to be businesses. When businesses join Google+, they are given prime placement on the right hand side of each search result and these results are complete with photos and user reviews. Nobody else can get this kind of placement on Google+. Users cannot actually buy this space but the tech giant offers it for free to encourage business to join its social media platform.
This is one of the major reasons why Starbucks and The Economist still maintain their Google+ accounts. Starbucks has 3 million followers on Google+. But on Facebook, the coffee chain has 36 million likes. Despite of this, Starbucks is regularly updating its Google+ page because of its good search placement.
It is also taking Google’s advice on how to optimise plus content for the search engine. “When we think about posting on Google Plus, we think about how it relates to our search efforts,” said Alex Wheeler, Starbucks’ vice president for global digital marketing.
The Economist, on the other hand, has more followers on Google+ than on Facebook. The weekly English-language newspaper, which targets highly educated readers and has an audience that reportedly include influential policy-makers, said Plus allows them to “get in front of new audiences.” Chandra Magee, The Economist’s senior director for audience development, said, “It also helps with our SEO strategy because our posts on Google Plus actually show up in our search engine results.”
Small and medium-sized businesses can definitely learn from these two world-renowned brands. Despite its limited popularity, Google+ is definitely a huge help, especially when it comes to improving one’s online visibility and search ranking. As such, they should give Google+ a shot.
