Posts Tagged ‘Google Plus’

Google’s CEO Larry Page recently announced Google+ stats: 10 Million Google+ users, over 1 billion items shared and received per day, also that G +1 button is being served 2.3 billion times per day. This is a remarkable milestone for Google+ project, though the usage and context of usage is more important and not the numbers which time will decide how users are going to adapt to the new wave.

Before starting any discussion about how plusone can have an impact on Search Engine Optimization, I would like to stress on a fact, it will not kill SEO services but rather will add one more level.

Now that Google’s +1 is also a social vote alongside Facebook’s like and Twitter’s tweet, it certainly has the impact on Search Engine Optimization. Google has in fact already included +1 tracker to its webmaster tools through +1 metrics.

For a URL, the +1’s are gathered from all the sources on the web. That includes Google’s organic search results, paid result, from +1 buttons installed on your website or blog and through Google+.

Note that, on paid results plus ones do not incur any cost on the advertiser, they are automatic. This would in fact open the doors to businesses to combine their SEO and PPC or Search engine marketing in general!

How does Google find your URL through G +1?

It is through 3 ways Google will find your URL.

1. First Step, Specific URL in the plusone button code

This by default does not have a link inside the tags. In that case Google will look for second step.

2. Second Step, Google looks for canonical link

[<link rel=”canonical” href=”http://www.xyz.com”/>]

Usually link given here is the website link and not the particular webpage or article link in the blog. And in some cases canonical code is altogether absent in WebPages. Even in this case Google looks for web page URL which is being showed in the address bar!

3. Third Step, Google looks for URL in the address bar of browser

Is G +1 anti-spam?

Google is anti- spam from the very beginning. If we take a look on all the popular social networks, they all are diluted from spammers and irrelevant content making the genuine publishers hard to rank higher on the organic results.

But in case of plusone button, giving a +1 is possible only when a user is logged into his/her Google account. When for the first time + 1 is clicked, it is taken as a vote whereas the next one negates it and hence naturally you can get only one +1 no matter how many clicks you give in a row. Additionally Google keeps a track on how many clicks are being sent from the same IP address, if it suspects of an automated process it displays a CAPTCHA. So there is no possibility of using unethical process to manipulate this tool.

Google Chrome has its plus one anything extension already, which lets us +1 any web page even if a particular website has not installed +1 button! Well similarly, Microsoft’s Bing has recently given out new Bing toolbar with Facebook’s universal like button through which you can like and share any content on the web. But the fact is Google has complete control over its +1 button whereas in case of Facebook’s “like“ button it has to rely on third party information! This alone will make the search results which have got ranking boost from +1 social signal more relevant and credible. Even if the actual results will be apparent in a longer run, the fact is it’s already time for web marketing enthusiasts to take the whole Google + project seriously!

The guessing on Google’s ‘Emerald Sea’ – the code name given to Google Plus project has been ended. After taking a closer look at Google Plus, no wonder it is a pretty good social network. As much it is social it looks yet more personal, imitating the real world relations and it seems like there is no need to project a summarized image for everyone out there in your social network. Google Plus will emerge as a winning product or project as Google calls it, if more privacy, more convenience will be given as the incentive along with the user experience. This will also fight the irrelevancy we face all over the web.

Google +, maybe it is going to function the same features we already are familiar with but the following statement is a screaming truth we all are facing and will definitely prove to be a selling point of Google Plus! “On Facebook I overshare. On Twitter, I undershare. If Google hits that spot in the middle, we can revolutionize social interaction.” — Shimrit Ben-Yair, product manager in charge of the social graph. The core features of Google Plus: Circles, Hangouts, Huddle, Instant Upload, Sparks each of them is solving those obvious shortcomings we are facing on the social networks!

Google Plus Circles will help in sharing right content with the right people. Sounds great! Facebook does have the similar features - Friend Lists and Groups. And they do the same thing but Circle’s drag and drop trait is much appealing and convenient. Now the question is what if a person has hundreds of friends as in Facebook? I suppose then the drag and drop feature will become tedious as well. But this is good as it gives more selective approach to practically arrange family, best pals, business partners, co - workers ‘circles’! Certainly, number of people who belong to any of these custom ‘circle’ at a point will be opportune enough to manage. You can also drag –in and drag out the people from the circles. Collectively this is one more reason to cheer as it will definitely cut out those unwanted irrelevant updates!

Hangout is Google +’s informal video conferencing service. It offers as many as 10 simultaneous video chat screens. It is different from Google Talk and Skype as it allows dropping in and dropping out of the chat session just as they would do in the real world. It is more of a gathering and may directly compete with Skype as its cooler than Skype!

Google Plus has its ‘Stream’ feature which is a direct function adaptation from Facebook’s ‘news feeds’ which shows up comments and photos shared by your friends. ‘Sparks’ will let you create topics of interest. ‘Huddle’ is a group messaging service where anybody in the group (‘circle’) can view each other’s SMS. (The Google+ app is already available for android market)

Google Plus for mobile is concentrating on GPS, cameras, and messaging services of your mobile to make it more ‘personal’. The killer functionality it has come up with is Instant Upload wherein the moment you take the picture from your smart phone it will be instantly uploaded to a private folder from where you can selectively share the snaps later with your ‘circles’ no matter from which device (i.e. phone, laptop, desktop you just need to log into your Google Plus profile!)

As a conclusion everything about Google plus is simple, obvious and genius. Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice-President of Social for Google wrote in the blog “We’d like to bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to software. We want to make Google better by including you, your relationships, and your interests,”- if that becomes a reality social networking with Google Plus will be a better place.