It is no secret that social media can greatly help websites achieve page rank, spread awareness, and increase optimization as well. Since there are so many different social sites, it is important to look at each one individually and determine whether or not it is appropriate for the business before creating a company profile. Facebook and Twitter seem to have dominated the social media market; however, Google+ and its +1 system are used quite a bit also. As a matter of fact, Austin SEO professionals are reporting that +1 can provide a much greater benefit than previously thought.
+1 – A Google Product
The same way that Google’s Webmaster and Analytics tools can provide great advantages when used, +1 acts in a similar way; both are Google products. Google explains that the best ways to increase optimization and page rank are by doing things the preferred “Google way,” which could yield rewards faster. Used appropriately, this is like every webmaster being shown step-by-step how to succeed with SEO; adding the benefit of +1 is the next natural step in creating websites that are Google compliant and will survive algorithms and filters better.
+1 and Facebook
Facebook is by far the most popular social media profile website, with over 1.5 billion accounts. That’s a lot of people to have captive in one area for marketing purposes and SEO. Google+ on the other hand claims “only” about 540 million users; however, the demographics are slightly different, with businesses accounting for a higher percentage than with Facebook.
Although Facebook has its fair share of business profiles and does a lot for sharing and spreading visibility, Google +1 has proven to be more effective when it comes to generating SEO. Facebook is an important part of a good Austin SEO marketing plan; however, +1 can be as well and yet it is underutilized by most companies.
+1 – How It Helps
Since the advent of Google+, there has been a way for site viewers and readers to rate what is being viewed by clicking +1 on any content from Google+ that an account publishes. These +1 ratings appear within Google’s SERPs under the main website link and are useful in depicting approval from other Google users; however, they do a lot more than just that.
Web crawlers seek out pages posted to Google+ and index them almost immediately; this makes perfect sense, since this is all Google. It helps great web pages get better rank; keeps the SERPs clutter-free; and encourages the use of Google+ to help rank pages in general; those that also have +1 get even higher priority. Even better, +1 is optimized for SEO, gives each post an individual URL, automatically uses the first part of the post in the post title tag, and has the ability to share with relevant anchor text while gaining internal links throughout Google+.
So what does all that mean? It means that +1 is designed to help pages rank faster. It was created to integrate with Google algorithms and because of this, posts on that site gain the positive attributes needed to increase page ranking ability. Too much cannot be done when it comes to things like Austin SEO; making Google+ one of the social sharing sites that a business uses certainly has some advantages. For the trouble of setting up a profile and keeping an account active, there is a reward to be found even if there doesn’t appear to be a direct help with website ranking – it certainly cannot hurt to use it!