January 10, 2012 - Posted by Amy Rose Brown
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In the coming days, you may see a dramatic change in how Google presents your search results. Google has already been integrating social search with regular search since February 2011, placing pages that your connections have shared on Google+ or other sites (excluding Facebook) higher in search results. For example, let’s say I search for The Marketing Zen Group.
This article by our CEO Shama Kabani appears very high up on my first page of results. Since I am logged into my Google account and Shama is in my circles on Google+, articles that she shares are deemed more relevant to me. When I log out of my Google account, this article no longer appears on the first page of search results. If you want to try this experiment yourself, try searching your own name while logged in and then while logged out.
Google’s new personalized search takes the old social search a step further. Search plus Your World introduces three distinct features that are sure to dramatically impact the way people search in the future.
1. You will now see privately shared content in your search results. You’ll still see pages that your friends have publicly given a +1, but now your search results will begin to include private or “Limited” Google+ posts and photos that have been shared with you, as well as pictures shared with you on Picasa. Although it seems weird to see public and private content side by side in a search, your privacy settings have not changed. Think of it as a standard Google search, now integrated with the Google+ search function.
2. Google+ profiles will appear in search and search results. Although Google+ pages already announced the direct connect search feature, personal profiles will now also appear in the autocomplete box and search results. If you begin to search the name of a person in your Google+ circles, autocomplete will suggest a personalized profile. Clicking on this will direct you to search results specifically for this person, collected from Google+ and around the web.
3. You’ll receive people and page suggestions related to your search. In an example taken from Google’s blog, say you search the term “music” on Google. A sidebar will pop up with suggestions for who you might like to add to your circles – musical artists, music reviewers, music publications, etc.
If your business doesn’t already have a Google+ page, get one right now. Search plus Your World is poised to revolutionize the way people find information, and your Google+ presence is now more valuable than ever. For those in the world of online marketing, this new type of search means that creating content people want to +1 and share on Google+ is even more essential. Integrate a +1 button into your website or blog. Optimize your Google+ profile, page, and posts with SEO keywords.
Search plus Your World is the new default search setting, but you have the choice to opt-out. You can turn personalized search off permanently, or toggle it on a per-search basis via a button at the top of your search.
What impact do you think the new Google search will have on search engine marketing?
December 23, 2011 - Posted by Amy Rose Brown
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Google+ brand pages were introduced in November and were received with much excitement by the marketing and business world. However, they did fall short in a few key areas. Earlier this week, Google+ announced some important upgrades – both to brand pages and user profiles – that will enhance user experience and make the site more essential to online marketing.
When Google+ launched brand pages, they did so without the capability of multiple page managers or shifting page ownership. As of December 20, however, you can now have a team of up to 50 people controlling your organization’s Google+ presence. You can also transfer ownership of the page from the original creator to any other page manager. Page owners and page managers have the same powers over the Google+ brand page, except in two areas: only page owners can transfer ownership and delete the page. Whenever a change is made to the page, all the other page managers and the owner will receive a notification detailing what was changed.
Before this week’s brand page updates, your page showed two different number counts: people who had added your page to circles, and people who had given your page a +1. Google has not made these two different actions any less confusing, but they have combined the two number counts into one total that is now shown on your brand page.
This makes it easier to get a brief overview of how many people like you and your content, regardless of whether or not they’ve added you to their circles yet. Since Google+ is still in relatively early stages, many people won’t understand the difference between a +1 and adding you to their circles for a while longer.
Pages will now have the capability to receive notifications on interactions, like comments, mentions, +1s on posts, and post reshares, making brand pages function more like individual user profiles. As previously stated, page owners and managers also now receive notifications when others associated with the page make edits. Google+ has also improved notifications for individual users. Instead of just reading “Person One commented on your post,” you’ll now see a preview of what Person One actually said on your post.
You can now control how many stories you see in your streams from each of your designated circles through a new feature called volume control. By sliding a ball on a slider to the right or the left (much like how you control the volume on most electronics), you control the “volume” of each of your circles. You can opt to show all, most, some, or no posts from each one of your circles.
Google+ has also given a makeover (and a new name) to their photo galleries, now called Lightbox. Lightbox brings “improved navigation, enhanced comment legibility and better overall utility” to the photo experience. The on-screen photos are larger with a hide-able comment section. They’ve also added seasonal tools to the creative photo kit, just in time for holiday albums.
Have you tried any of the Google+ updates yet? Add us to your circles on Google+ to make sure you stay updated!
November 9, 2011 - Posted by Amy Rose Brown
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The moment we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived: Google+ finally launched brand pages. Since these pages are so new, we thought we’d compile a list of five major points you should know about them.
This is the feature that really sets Google+ pages apart from Facebook pages: the search integration. A major difficulty with using Facebook for social media marketing is that people aren’t there to buy things. An advantage of a Google+ page is its integration with Google’s web search function, and the ability to “direct connect”. What does that mean? It means if a consumer wants to find a brand’s Google+ page, all they have to do is type “+brandname” into Google to be taken directly to that page. Some steps you can take to help Google set up direct connect: add your business URL to your Google+ page, add a Google+ badge to your website, or incorporate this piece of code into your site.
If you’re thinking of setting up a Google+ page for your brand, make sure the person who sets it up is the person you have (or want) in charge of your social media efforts. As of this posting, Google has not created a way to shift ownership of the page from one user to another. There also isn’t the capability for multiple page administrators. Google has said that this is just temporary, but you’ll still want to make sure that whoever has the initial responsibility for the page is the person you want to be stuck with the page.
Although the terms of service for a Google+ page state that they must be created by people “with authority over the subject matter”, this still leaves plenty of room for duplicate pages, unofficial fan pages, or even fake brand pages. The general assumption is that Google will crack down on fake and duplicate pages, but they could also go the way Twitter did (they have official guidelines for parody and fan accounts).
Like Facebook fan pages, Google+ allows you to select a category for your page when you’re first creating it. The options are similar no matter what you choose, with the exception of one: local business or place.
If your business is already in Google Places, all you have to do is type in your business phone number to get started. If not, you have to add your business to Google Places to get started (although if you’re tech-savvy enough to want to set up a Google+ page, this shouldn’t take you very long). After you type in the phone number associated with your business, your physical location will show up as part of your new page.
Oh no! That’s right, your new Google+ page is pretty cool, but there are some things it cannot do. For example, it has a +1 button on it, but your page cannot +1 other pages or interesting articles on the rest of the internet. Check out Google’s short article for more information on the differences between Google+ pages and profiles.
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