By now you\u2019ve probably heard about Google+<\/a>, the latest social networking craze and most recent effort by Google to take on Facebook and Twitter. But did you know that it could affect how your business\u2019s website gets found on Google\u2019s search engine?<\/p>\n

In addition to building a social networking powerhouse, Google\u2019s aim with its \u201c+1\u201d button \u2014 the equivalent of Facebook\u2019s \u201cLike\u201d button \u2014 is to determine the social value of websites, or, in other words, they want consumers to add personalized recommendations to Web content and business sites. At present, it actually looks like Google may just pull it off. Since its June 28 release, more than 20 million people have already jumped onboard Google+. With such an unbelievable early adoption rate, many internet marketing professionals are beginning to wonder if those \u201c+1\u2033s will also start affecting how businesses use search-engine optimization, or SEO<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Google+ combines many popular features of Facebook and Twitter into a centralized social hub. There\u2019s a group video chat feature called \u201cHangouts,\u201d and a user-defined topical news feed (like Twitter\u2019s hashtag) called \u201cSparks.\u201d But maybe the most unique feature \u2014 and SEO-relevant \u2014 is \u201cGoogle Circles,\u201d which gives users the ability to share content with specified groups, or \u201ccircles\u201d of people. As users build these circles, they\u2019ll be able to see the sites that members of their circles have +1\u2019d in Google\u2019s search engine results pages, or SERPs.<\/p>\n

While \u201c+1\u2033s are currently appearing in the search pages for users that are logged in to their Google accounts, it\u2019s too early to say exactly how \u201c+1\u2033s will affect users who aren\u2019t logged in. Looking at how Facebook and Twitter \u201cLikes\u201d and \u201cretweets\u201d currently affect where a site appears within search pages, one has to assume these +1\u2019s will be as influential, if not more.<\/p>\n

As search engines evolve to make searching more social, the main value added of \u201cLikes\u201d and \u201ctweets\u201d showing in SERPs is the concept of something I like to call, \u201ctrusted endorsements.\u201d If someone searches for a product or service, there\u2019s a good chance that customer reviews and recommendations will play some role in their decision making process. When looking at these reviews, users trust the opinions of strangers. They assume that these reviews are honest, but there\u2019s always a hint of lingering skepticism.<\/p>\n

Now imagine the same user is searching for the same product or service, but instead of having to rely on the opinions of strangers, they see recommendations from friends, co-workers or family members. Just like in real life, the opinions of people in their \u201ccircles\u201d influence the decisions they make. That\u2019s the potential Google+ holds.<\/p>\n

So how do you optimize for recommendations?<\/p>\n

Google has built upon some of the best features of existing social media sites in an attempt to make search less about computer algorithms and more about real people. Google+ and the +1 button are empowering users to influence other peoples\u2019 online activity.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t SEO in the traditional sense, optimizing for these trusted endorsements is an entirely new strategy altogether. Now more than ever, marketers must focus on providing the best customer experience possible, and encourage +1 recommendations everywhere they can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By now you\u2019ve probably heard about Google+, the latest social networking craze and most recent effort by Google to take on Facebook and Twitter. But did you know that it could affect how your business\u2019s website gets found on Google\u2019s search engine? In addition to building a social networking powerhouse, Google\u2019s aim with its \u201c+1\u201d button \u2014 the equivalent of Facebook\u2019s \u201cLike\u201d button \u2014 is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[33,32],"class_list":["post-1109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing","tag-google","tag-seo"],"yoast_head":"\n