I’ve found some very concrete reasons for being active on Google+ as a corporation.
(Click the image or click here to view a more legible sized graphic)
1) It matters to your ad reputation and adds to your adwords quality score
Try a search for ‘production reporting’ on Google, and note that our ad has more real estate because (if you’re logged in to Google) a line is added that says (at last count)
- ‘274 people +1’d or follow EnergySys‘
There’s also a hyperlink to our Google+ page. Other advertisers for that key phrase have nothing similar to recommend them. We get more screen real estate, and the other advertisers look like losers with no influence.
2) Another little bonus
Finally, if you add a Google Places listing, in local search, your address appears to add to the visual impact your ad has, along with your phone mumber and directions to your nearest location. From there, it’s also possible to see reviews from customers.
3) Google + also matters to organic search results
In organic search results, (again normally for logged-in users, but there are many millions of them using Google every day) I can see how many people have “+1’d” our web site – and again there is more screen real estate in comparison to the blank, anti-social and unloved competition around us.
These are reasons enough to persevere, even if nobody relevant is seen to engage the page within Google+. It’s also going to become a more important social indicator over time, which will inevitably be used in Google’s search ranking algorithms to a greater degree.
4) The last little secret
If you don’t know how to, or don’t get the results shown in the third example – with deep links into your web site, you need to ask your PPC people what they are doing. Or follow EnergySys on Twitter or better still, circle us on Google+, drop me a line, and I’ll let you know how to get a result that gets you gain even more ad real estate at no cost.
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David Petherick is Head of Digital Marketing at EnergySys. Follow him on Twitter at @petherick and circle him on Google+
