The Weird & Magical Powers
of Google+ Rand Fishkin, Wizard of Moz | @randfish | rand@moz.com

This Presentation Is Online Here:
bit.ly/gplusmagic

Why Google+? Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,
LinkedIn, and Instagram are all opportunities, too. What makes G+ special?

#1: Reach 1.85 Billion accounts
(more than Facebook’s 1.32B active users, though likely lower than FB’s total users) The methodology from http://plus.miernicki.com/ counts all accounts, not just active or verified

Active User Counts are Smaller
(but still huge) Total Accounts Active Users Stats via MarketingLand and Business Insider September 2012: October 2013: August 2014: Monthly Active “In-stream” (*estimates my own assuming similar percents of total/active/instream ratios) Users 100mm 540mm 647mm (*estimated) 400mm 1.10B 1.85B 55mm (*estimated) 300mm 360mm (*estimated)

Google+ Gets About the Same
Number of Monthly Active Users as Twitter NOTE: it’s likely the avg Twitter user is more engaged on Twitter than avg G+ users are on G+.

For 18-34 Yr Olds in
the US, Google+ is just ahead of Pinterest and just behind Twitter Please ignore the fact that Comscore’s chart listed 17.9% higher than 18%

Global adoption varies – e.g.
Australia’s per capita use is ~1/2 the United States Stats via Circlecount. Methodology compares relative population size vs. Google+ profiles from Circlecount’s data

#2: Potential Reach This number
represents the potential Google users that can be influenced by Google+ when logged into their Google account

This result appears in position
#2 for my search query with Mark’s picture next to it only because I follow him on Google+

Anytime I’m on any Google
property, this notification bell follows me and alerts me to Google+ activity (even from people I don’t follow!)

#3: Access to Influencers

#4: Photo Backups, Functionality, &
Sharing

#5: Extra Features & Real
Estate in Search

Circles Google+ enables a unique
kind of follower/following relationship

Different Groups for Different Interests

You Control Which Circles See
Your Shares

G+ Enables Connections by School,
Work, Gmail Contacts & More (but you can add anyone to any circle)

Your Shares and +1s Can
Reach Beyond Your Circles But only if you share publicly!

G+ in Search How Google+
influences what searchers see and where they see it

Google Authorship used to show
photos connected to the G+ profile of the author. Now it’s just the author’s name & a link (here’s how to set it up)

Authorship photos do still appear
when Google personalizes results from people you follow on Google+

Google Search also displays social
proof from your connections who’ve +1’d or shared content you see in the search results

Not only do Google+ posts
have an amazing ability to rank for even the broadest keywords, the biasing effects can last for months or years

More than a year after
Geraldine posted this on G+, I still see it on page 1 for a related query

The more recent the post,
the higher it ranks on G+ in personalized results. For the last 3 years, the keyword matching algorithm has been extremely broad.

For some active brands on
G+, there’s a range of additional features like the “follow” button and recent posts

Less followed, less active, and/or
non “approved” still get some search real estate from their G+ page (NOTE: Google isn’t transparent about how a page/brand can get additional features in search)

For many local, small businesses,
G+ is a requirement of getting listed in Google Maps (and how Google defaults to showing your listing)

SEO Benefits of Using Google+
Biases Personalized/Logged-In Search Results Gives Authorship Link & Citation Credit in SERPs Enables Knowledge-Graph Style Box for Brand Name Is Essential to Local Business Listings in Google Maps Gives Authorship Photo and Link to G+ Post in Personalized Results

Visuals Leveraging G+’s Unique Photo
and Video Features to Maximum Effect

If You Have Android, G+
Auto-Integrates

For iPhone & Windows Phone,
the G+ App Does It

Google+’s “Auto Awesome” Images is
Pretty Good (though Instagram’s still better in some ways) G+ will take any series of similar shots and mesh them together to create fun gifs like this one:

Photo “Stories” in Google+ Are
Fascinating, Too

Ease of Photo-Sharing is Definitely
a Plus

Videos Also Work Well and
Have Easy Integration

As with Facebook, Sharing Visual
Content is Often a Way to Earn Greater Amplification

Hangouts Skype made it possible.
Google+ made it better and more shareable.

Google Hangouts Are Often Superior
to Skype Don’t worry, you won’t automatically grow a giant beard

“Hangouts on Air” Enable Public
Video Conferencing, Recording, & Sharing to YouTube Hangouts on Air can be simultaneously live-broadcasted and recorded for later viewing/embedding via YouTube

Some Bloggers Use Hangouts on
Air As a Primary Content Channel From Denise Wakeman’s Hangouts (lots of good stuff in there)

Amplification 12 tips to earn
greater reach and attention to your Google+ posts

Tip #1: Measure Your Progress
Use a tool (Circlecount, pictured here, is free) to track your G+ activity and see what works vs. doesn’t

Tip #2: Be Visual We’ve
seen a strong correlation between the performance of our content on social media and the engagement/quality of the visuals in the posts. Hence, we now put lots more energy into making great images on, for example, our whiteboard videos

Tip #2: Be Visual If
you’re sharing a link, be sure to optimize which image is chosen. If there aren’t any good ones, consider taking a screenshot and sharing the image and link together.

Tip #3: Share to the
Right People G+ may default to private sharing or may not include all your circles, so be sure to add them You can choose to send emails to people in your circles – take care not to abuse this ability

Tip #3: Share to the
Right People G+ also enables you to search for and share to individuals (like Twitter’s @mention functionality). This will create a notification in their Google navigation

Tip #4: Use Ripples to
Find Potential Amplifiers

Tip #4.5: Buzzsumo Helps ID
the Right Content Search, filter, and find the most shared stuff

Tip #5: Share G+ Post
On Other Networks Amplifying your G+ shares on other social networks can help boost reach and SEO influence

Tip #6: Share at the
Right Time(s) Via Followerwonk (G+ times usually align better w/ Twitter than FB)

Tip #7: Reciprocation (+1 and
Ye Shall Be +1’d) Aleyda will get a notification of my +1 and see my name – that creates a powerful, but often subconscious nudge for her to return the gesture

Tip #8: Join & Leverage
Communities

Tip #9: Employ Hashtags &
Keywords The “Explore” tab can show you popular and trending hashtags

Tip #10: Format Your Posts
Easy to scan means easy to read, click, and share

Tip #10: Format Your Posts
Simple guide to the basics

Tip #11: Create “Direct Notification”
Circles You can invite other Google+ users to get notifications every time you publish/post something to particular circles. Read Ray Hiltz’s post for more.

Tip #12: Consider Google+ Comment
Integration

Networking How to reach people
in ways that build lasting relationships on G+

Finding People on G+ Can
Be a Challenge

“People & Pages” Can Help

Google’s Web Search > G+
Search

Use (But Don’t Abuse) Notifications
Not as Good: I don’t know these folks and this doesn’t look relevant to me or personalized in any way. Think they just want more eyeballs  Great: I didn’t know Justin, but his question is straight-forward and up my alley. Happy to help!

Resharing & +1’ing is a
Great Start Being an early supporter is particularly appreciated (especially when combined w/ a comment!)

Cite Others Without Thought of
Reward And when you make citations/shares, be sure to use the +name format so they can see your post

Mostly, Apply Bill & Ted’s
Righteous Advice

Page or Profile Google+ enables
pages (for brands/websites) and profiles (for people). Which is right for you?

Google+ Pages

Google+ Profiles

Profiles Are Best if… You’re
a blogger, writing on your own site You’re the sole owner/operator of your web-based business/website You’re a small business owner that isn’t focused on rapid, scalable growth You don’t plan to ever have a team of marketing professionals managing your social media accounts

Pages Are Best if… You
expect rapid growth of your business and know you’ll require social media management at scale You currently have multiple people working on your online marketing team You have a brand that scales (or will scale) far beyond any individual founder

If You Have a Page,
You Should Also Leverage Your Personal Profile

The Competition Is Google+ worth
investing time in over networks like Twitter, Facebook, and others?

A Social Network’s Size Can’t
Be The Only Factor

Where is Your Audience Today?

Where is Your Potential, Future
Audience?

Is Your Competition Non-Existent on
G+? If your competitors aren’t active, that’s a chance to lead the market! Not an indication of a “ghost town.”

Remember G+’s Superpower Follow +
Share = Rankings

Google+ may not be right
for everyone, but it’s almost certainly worth some effort for those who create & share content online.

bit.ly/gplusmagic Rand Fishkin, Wizard of
Moz | @randfish | rand@moz.com