Another Social Media Site? 5 Things to Know about Google+

You’ve probably seen bits and pieces of information surrounding Google’s latest endeavor, Google+.  And, like me, you’ve probably wondered “what in the world IS Google+?”.   So, naturally, I finally googled Google+ to get the low down on this latest craze.  

In short, Google+ is the Google version of Facebook.  Now, before you begin to have a slight panic attack about yet another social media site that you’ll have to keep up with as a busy real estate agent; take a deep breath.  Google+ is not ready for businesses yet.... but it’s coming.  

Thankfully, Forbes.com recently came out with an article noting Five Things Small Business Must Know about Google+.  I don’t know about you, but I love concise explanations that give me a run down of something so that I don’t have to stream through a whole article trying to pick out the highlights.  So, I’m going to give you these five points that Forbes.com pointed out so that you can get an overview of the latest social media site.

1.  It’s a social media site- As we’ve noted, Google+ is Google’s version of Facebook.  You can share content (such as text, photos, video, etc.) to a network of contacts. Your contacts can respond and rate your shared content in turn. You can add contacts, block them, connect to other services like Twitter, and much more.

2.  It’s sort of like Facebook, but different- Unlike Facebook who’s dealt with their share of privacy issues, Google+ (or G+ as it’s being referred to) has a high sense of privacy.  You can create groups called “Circles” and post content that can be seen by only the groups you select.  It’s also similar to Facebook in that the “+1” you’ve probably been seeing around Google is like the “Like” button.  However, there’s a difference... see point #3.

3. The +1 will probably effect SEO- It’s not set in stone how the +1 button will effect SEO yet, but it will most likely play a role.  Google’s definition of the +1 is that “Clicking on it would indicate to Google that you have endorsed that result as a solid source of information for the search term you used.”  Google denied that it would affect search engine rankings when it was first conceived about a year ago, but there’s no doubt it will be a part of the future ranking system.

Here’s how Forbes explains it: “With G+ using the +1 button as a way to endorse a post by a contact, the overall vision for +1 is revealed to be a bit grander. Google envisions +1 as the tool that ties together all user-endorsed content across the web. Whether you +1 something in search results or a photo that your friend took of his dog and uploaded to Google+, you’re contributing to your personal version of Google’s search algorithm, meaning that content may eventually be served to you differently based on your +1 behaviors.

This concept is very bold and presents an interesting problem for SEO management, if it does indeed create a personalized set of results which varies wildly for every user. When the SEO community reaches some sort of consensus (or if Google releases more information) then I’ll do a follow-up to this post on how +1 effects Google+ SEO performance.”

4.  Google’s not ready for businesses..yet- While Google says that Google+ is not ready for businesses, it doesn’t mean you can’t set up a profile for yourself to become familiar with it.  Google is anticipating launching their business pages this fall which are said to be highly valuable for business owners as they will probably entail some type of analytical data that displays detailed looks at demographics.  Again, creating a profile for yourself now to get a feel for this social site can be beneficial, but you’ll most likely need to recreate a business one this fall when that launches.

5. Google is putting its full weight behind G+- It seems that Google has high hopes for Google+ and will apparently be fading out some of their current services such as Picasa and Blogger and will be using G+ as the platform for these service instead. 

Now, as a Real Estate Virtual Assistant who’s main job is blogging for clients, this point made me gasp.  Replace Blogger?!  However, before completely freaking out with this possible change; I reminded myself that, as with any major company, they will not leave us Blogger users hanging.  I’m sure the transition, whenever that takes places, will be fairly seamless and will actually work in favor of our active blogging clients who are looking to build their SEO.  In fact, Forbes notes that “SEO is going to be influenced by this in a big way. Instead of being an aggregator or a channel to find blog posts about your firm, G+ will instead be both the platform and means of distribution for content.”

So, it appears as though Google+ is here to stay and that our view of how we use Google and work to increase SEO will be changing.  Of course as Real Estate Virtual Assistants, we’ll keep you updated on the latest G+ news and how you can incorporate this into working for you and your real estate business.  

While it still seems that Google is ironing out the details of G+ for business; I at least wanted to give you a little insight into this new social media platform and how it could eventually affect you and your business.  I hope this helps!  

As always, feel free to let us know if you have any questions about social media sites or ways that we can help boost your business.  We’re here for you!

Check out this video from Carrie Gable, President and CEO of RealSupport Inc., as she explains how to properly set up your Google+ profile for SEO:

Allie Coyle
Blogging & Copywriting Specialist

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