Why you have to use Google+, whether you want to or not.
Last week I linked to Danny Sullivan’s look at Pew Research’s 2012 search engine use survey. And, without a doubt, the information is confusing. As mentioned, personalized search worries 65% of those surveyed. But 83% still use Google as their primary search engine.
All of which highlights the importance of Google+, no matter how much it pains me to admit it.
I’ll be blunt: I’m not a fan of the service. I’m not sure what problem it solves that isn’t solved equally well by Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare. But as Social Media Examiner notes in a recent piece listing the 3 important reasons you should have a Google+ profile and/or business page.
“People and pages you have circled are likely to show in Google social search results, so it’s important to build your audience on Google+. Another way to catch the eye of Google users is to appear in Google’s Related People and Pages based on the user’s search query.”
Google is using Google+ to influence rankings. We’ve known that for a while now. And as much as it pains me to admit it, this is one case where it doesn’t matter what your customers care about. It’s not that you should use Google+ because your customers care. You should use it because Google cares.
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Technorati Tags: Google, Google +1, Google Plus, Google+, Google+ Pages, search, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, sem, seo, social, social commerce, social marketing, social media, social search, social strategy, strategy
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[…] Previous post: Why you have to use Google+, whether you want to or not. […]
[…] Leading off, Om Malik makes a great point about Google+, noting “no one needs it but Google.” Of course, because Google has put so much emphasis on the social service, it’s become something you need whether you want it or not. […]
[…] Finally, Google+ continues to pick up share, particularly among thought-leaders and influencers. Facebook’s Graph Search, by contrast, isn’t available to most users yet and remains an unknown. While it’s no secret I haven’t been the biggest fan of Google+, there’s no question Google+ benefits your content marketing and that you likely should use it, whether you want to or not. […]
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