GOOGLE PLUS:
THE CURRENT
STATE
By Ann Smarty @seosmarty
Brand & Community Manager at
Internet Marketing Ninjas

June 28, 2011

FAIL…

The same hysteria…

The same hysteria…

22 months
4 years and 8
months
5 years and 4
months
15 months

GOOGLE PLUS:
OVER 3 OLD YEARS NOW

“It’s ‘Plus’ because it takes products from
Google and makes them better...”
~Vic Gundotra, the senior vice president

“It’s ‘Plus’ because it takes products from Google
and makes them better and ‘project’ because
it’s an ongoing set of products”
~Vic Gundotra, the senior vice president

See personalized search results from people
in your circles

See your friends’ Youtube comments on top
for VERY popular videos

See who is emailing you…

“Before Google released Plus, the company might not have
known that you were the same person when you searched,
watched videos and used maps. With a single Plus account,
the company can build a database of your affinities.”
(source: New York Times)

“G+ was build primarily as an identity
service…”
~Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google

GOOGLE PLUS WAS NOT
CREATED TO BE
FACEBOOK OR TWITTER…

GOOGLE PLUS = GOOGLE’S WAY TO BETTER
UNDERSTAND CONTENT & PEOPLE
(and relationships between them)
[image courtesy of @gfiorelli1]

HELP EACH
OTHER
GOOGLE PLUS IS THE ONLY SOCIAL GRAPH
GOOGLE HAS…

GOOGLE+ STREAM

Unlike Facebook, Google Plus doesn’t want me to
listen ONLY to MY friends’ updates…

Instead, they
want me to see
more and more
content from
outside of my
circles to figure
out what I like…

Google Plus allows Google to map the web of
people (users), brands (business pages) and
topics (hashtags)

@seosmarty
HASHTAGS…

Google Plus
would auto-tag
your updates to
place them better
into the social
graph

TWITTER
HASHTAGS:
Curate content &
organize
conversations

TWITTER
HASHTAGS:
Curate content &
organize
conversations
GOOGLE PLUS
HASHTAGS:
Analyze linked
content &
relationships
between topics

GOOGLE PLUS AND THE
SEARCH…

Google plus used to be much more present in
Google search…

Google plus used to be much more present in
Google search…

Google plus used to be much more present in
Google search…

Google Plus is still in Google search results
(for those who are viewing default
personalized results)

Google Plus is still in Google search results
for navigational search queries (showing a
“linked” Google Plus page)

BEFORE: NOW:
For everyone For logged-in users
In many cases this is
moved below the ads

GOOGLE IS DEFINITELY SIMPLIFYING SERPS
BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN IT’S GIVING UP
ON GOOGLE PLUS
(or its data since there is no alternative
sources for Google)

SO.. WHAT HAS REALLY CHANGED
SINCE THE LAUNCH?

(1) GOOGLE PLUS HAS CANCELLED THEIR NOTORIOUS
“REAL NAME” POLICY ALLOWING PEOPLE TO USE
PSEUDONYMS WHEN REGISTERING

(2) GOOGLE HAS CANCELLED THEIR AUTHORSHIP
PROGRAM
(GOOGLE PLUS IS NO LONGER USED TO IDENTIFY PEOPLE
BEHIND CONTENT)

“REAL NAME”
policy reversed
(Jul 15, 2014)
AUTHORSHIP
stopped
(Aug 29, 2014)
THESE TWO MAY
BE SOMEHOW
CONNECTED

(3) GOOGLE PLUS IS NO LONGER AS PROMINENT IN
SEARCH
(AS PROMINENT AS ADS)

(4) RUMOR: GOOGLE TO END FORCED INTEGRATION WITH
YOUTUBE & GMAIL

GOOGLE’S LARRY PAGE SAYS THEY WILL KEEP
WORKING & IMPROVING G+
[GOOGLE’S REPS ADD…
ESPECIALLY GOOGLE HANGOUTS, & PHOTOS]
Source: arstechnica.com

“We’re actually very happy with the progress of
Google+… The company is behind it.”
~New Google+ Head David Besbris

WILL GOOGLE PLUS
CHANGE?
YES

IS GOOGLE PLUS
HERE TO STAY?
YES

WORTH YOUR
TIME?…

Do you want to rank on top for your friends’
searches? Do you want your friends to see
your face here?

SOCIAL-ASSISTED CONVERSIONS
#BEEVERYWHERE

Discover and connect to niche influencers,
connect to your customers…

Get included into Google’s
social graph…

TOOLS

CIRCLOSCOPE

CYFE

Google Plus Ripples
Bookmarklet

CircleCount

Ann Smarty @seosmarty
Contact us: 518-270-0854