Google+ and the war on SEO

A few months ago, I confidently asserted that no way, no how, does Google+ kill SEO. Now, while I’m not backpedaling, I am curious about what the introduction of Google+ Pages means for SEO practices.

For instance, Google offers this “shiny, happy people” video, showing that business (and social, really), is all about people:

But, they’ve also got this one, showing how you can connect directly to a brand’s Google+ Page from Google Search:

Notice here, when I search for Amazon using the query “+Amazon”:

Now, I’m not clear how many customers will use this new approach—I suspect not many for the foreseeable future. But, this is a fairly major change to Google’s search behavior and one—much like Place Pages—that leads the customer to Google, not to your own site. SEO experts work hard to ensure that the right pages show up first. Will Google bypass this and just have the Google+ Page return first, instead?

In any case, I recommend getting yourself a Google+ Place page both as an additional part of your web presence and, as I expect we’ll find out, an important part of your SEO strategy, too. This may not mean war on the SEO community. But it might be an opening shot.

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