For most people, putting time into meticulously crafting all the elements of a social media profile is a task that only falls into the purview of a full-fledged social media campaign. However, as Google+ has gained steam, the impact of profile pages have expanded.

This is mostly because of AuthorRank – an unverified ranking signal that bears resemblance to PageRank, except that it measures the authority and influence of an individual author, rather than that of an entire website. Similar to increasing your PageRank for SEO purposes, there are advantages to increasing your AuthorRank.

One of the key methods for increasing your AuthorRank is optimizing your Google+ page. Originally, tying your content back to your Google+ profile was simply a means of establishing AuthorRank for yourself. However, as the signal has grown in complexity, even more factors of AuthorRank are tied to Google+. The stronger your Google+ profile, the better your Author Rank. As you go about crafting your Google+ profile, keep these points in mind:

• The “About” section: Keywords and hyperlinks placed in your About section can play an important role in your profile’s search ranking. Try to use relevant keywords in your Story, Work, and Education sections. Also, don’t forget that you can use HTML in these sections to create hyperlinks that are optimized with appropriate keywords. Take note though, that URLs displayed under the Links section of your profile are no-follow links. While it may seem like that section is meant to optimize your top links, it’s not very useful for that task.

• Build big circles: While the number of users in your circles does not directly affect ranking factors for your profile, it is still important to have lots of users. When more people link back to your profile and posts, that’s the number that helps Google sit up and take notice.

• Optimize your posts: You can give your Google+ posts titles by putting an asterisk at the beginning and end of the first sentence. Just like in HTML titles, keywords play an important role in post titles. Also, make sure to place URL’s in the link section. If they are placed in the body of the post, they will become no-follow links.

• Consistent use: A consistently updated website has much better ranking potential than a stale, static one – that’s why we recommend blog writing to so many of our clients. Consistent updates to your Google+ page have a similar effect; not to mention that new posts are new opportunities to strengthen some of the above points.

By focusing more effort toward optimizing your Google+ profile, you’ll be able to increase your relevance with Google as a web-author. The initial set-up may be a bit time consuming, but once it’s done the content you produce will be able to reach an even wider audience.

Last week Google+, Google’s social network updated their profile pages with larger cover photos, a redesigned “About” tab and created a new “Local reviews” tab. These added features were based on feedback from Google+ users who wanted more editing control, flashier displays and clearer social networking.

Cover Photo

The new profile “cover photos” have a much larger display at 2,120px by 1,192px and adjust sizes depending on web browsers, zoom and monitor size.  Now that the cover photos have gotten larger, the profile pictures have been reduced from 250×250px to 120×120px, which can be tough for branding purposes.  Notice in the screenshot below that the MoreVisibility profile picture is much smaller and the text is not as noticeable.

Google’s justification for the change was as follows, “This way more images can be used as cover photos, and there’s more room for your selection to shine,” It appears Google+ updated their cover photos to almost mimic Facebook’s large background cover.

About Tab

The ‘About’ section now organizes user info into category boxes created for easier user modifications.  These boxes enable Google+ users to edit information from their ‘About’ tab such as education, work, links and places. The information being provided on the ‘About Tab’ is optional and like before, can be hidden or only shared between your selected circles.

Also, along with the cleaner look, Google has added a splash of color above each section, labeling the section’s people - blue, story - red, work - teal and education - yellow. Google is becoming more creative on how they use their logo’s colors and I am sure we will see much more of these colors in the future.

Reviews Tab

The newest addition to Google+ is the ‘Local review’ tab.  The ‘Local review’ tab can be shared within your network of circles, assuming you would rather post your preferences, opinions & reviews on Google+ versus other popular rating sites.

Similar to photos and the +1 buttons, Google+ users now have the ability to highlight reviews for their favorite businesses and share experiences.  This is optional and can be hidden within your settings.

Google has hope that with this new tab these recommendations will enhance its own social search results and increase the development of business pages. Chances are this “Local review” tab will most likely become a part of the search integration within the Google platform and this is one thing brands should be aware of.  See below for the organic results that auto populated when I typed “Boca Raton, FL” in G+ “Local” search.

Google Plus has added updated their pages to not only benefit personal users, but also to increase the involvement of business pages.  Local pages allow businesses to be found by their customers or prospects through better visibility in Google’s search rankings.

This social network is engaging and when pursued effectively, can create buzz for your business, drive traffic to your website and benefit your search results.  If you haven’t created a Google Plus business page I would highly recommend starting one now.

Google+ Circles allow businesses to group Google+ users into different Circles, so they can share certain things with particular groups. Once a G+ user has added a business’ page to their own Circle, they will start to see that business’ posts in their stream. Then that business will be able to add them back, group them into a Circle, and post comments on that G+ user’s page.

Recently, however, the rules of engagement in Google+ have changed. Businesses can now interact with G+ users who haven’t circled them on Google+ yet. What does this mean for companies? Well, from a marketing perspective, it means they can now cast a wider net to reach potential customers. For example, if a G+ user writes a post on their personal page raving about a local restaurant, that restaurant can then respond to that comment and it will show up live in the stream.

Conversely, if someone writes a negative comment about a business, that business has the opportunity to respond. While it opens the door for businesses to engage with potential or current customers — whether they like it or not – it also opens the door for spam. But if businesses use it wisely, it could help brands increase their following on Google+ — along with their customer base.

A little more than a year after the launch of Google+, usership of Google’s “social layer” remains anemic. Brands, many of which jumped on board in the early days of Google+, have yet to enthusiastically embrace the platform. This is either because of simple platform fatigue, or – and most likely – because Google+ still looks like a ghost town.

But consider the long tail for a moment. There might not be as many users on Google+ as there are on Facebook or Twitter, but Google+ does have users – passionate, creative, enthusiastic users – who might love to follow your brand, if only you were active on their preferred channel.

Now, consider that many Google+ brand pages are mere shells – they exist, but they’re not active. These are brands you might compete with (either directly, or for attention) on other channels, but that just haven’t bought into Google+ yet.

And in that, is opportunity.

The business case for Google+, as it stands today, is not the various sharing options and ways to connect with your audience – those will always be there. The best reason to come on board right now is that your competitors are likely not active in the channel. And as long as brands stay away from Google+, the easier it is to get the attention of its users.

Like many opportunities, this one won’t last forever.

This year, Google has made several moves aimed at increasing adoption. This includes integrating Google+ into a user’s overall search experience (SPYW), converting Google Places listings into Google+ Local pages, and merging Google+ Business pages with Google+ Local pages.

Given this, brands will either come on board whole-heartedly or be left behind. The brass ring will go to the brands that do it sooner, rather than later.

Customizable URLs have become a common staple on social media profiles. However, to the dismay and confusion of many, custom URLs have been conspicuously absent on Google+. Just how could the kingpin of search think that something like this:

https://plus.google.com/115346027077652586481/posts

is user or search-friendly?

It looks counterintuitive to Google’s mission as a search engine and awful to SEO experts. But, there is some method to Google’s madness. Custom URLs on Google+ present a potential privacy issue. Since Google+ is tied to almost all of Google’s other services, a custom URL could provide hackers and spammers with enough information to cause a problem. With the debacle that was Google Buzz, it’s no wonder the search giant is treading with caution.

In addition, domain-squatting is a potential problem that could negatively impact users, companies, and search results. Unscrupulous people could snap up several custom URLs, potentially driving traffic away from authoritative sites and/or creating conflicting search results.

In light of the issues, Google is being careful. Currently, custom URLs are available on Google+, but they come with some catches. First, custom URLs are in closed beta right now. Only profiles that receive an invite from Google can use a custom URL. Second, Google chooses the URL. But, if you have been invited and you don’t like the URL Google has selected for you, you can request a change.

Google has stated that custom URLs may become available to everyone in the future, but as a paid feature. It may be worthwhile for some companies, especially as pages and posts from Google+ continue to play a larger role in search results.

Since the launch of Google Plus, we have covered what to expect with a Google+ Business Page and what has happened to Places Listings that merged into Google+ Local.   Recently, Google released the ability to merge the Google+ Local listings with a single Google+ Business Page.  This functionality is very important, since there are features available on a Google+ Business Page that were not accessible on a Google+ Local listing.  The advantages to merging your listings into a single Google+ Business Page include the ability to share updates with photos or videos and links, create Circles (segmented networks of fans), set up Events, host Hangouts that can be linked to your YouTube account and recorded, and include you customer reviews on an SEO optimized About section for your business.  We will continue to share more ideas about the social media marketing strategies for a Google+ Business Page in another follow up article.  Below are the steps to the verification procedure for merging one Google+ Local Listings into a new, more robust +Business Page.

Step One: Create a profile with a gmail address, this will be the owner of the page, make sure it is unique to the business and not a personal account. Create a Google+ Business Page, if you do not already have one.  Populate the “About Info” with keyword rich text and hyperlinks to your website.  Upload a profile photo and cover image that will enhance your brand’s exposure.  Start adding People, and Pages to circles that are in your scope of interests, to expand your Pages reach in the network.

Step Two: Select the “Verify Now” button next to your Google+ Page name.  You will be able to add managers to the Page, and they can perform this action as well.   You can add a personal gmail account to be a Page manager, but they will need to have a Google+ Profile activated.

Step Three: Verify your business address.  Select the “View Page” to see what your current +Local listing contains.  You will be able to compare what information has merged with your existing +Business Page, by keeping a copy of this screen shot in your records.

Step Four: Complete the verification process by requesting a postcard with a pin.  Once you receive the postcard in the mail, go to the link provided and validate that you are the business owner.  You’ll need to accept the terms and conditions before selecting the “request post card” button.

Once your Google+ Business Page is verified, your Page will be shown to anyone searching in Google Maps, Google Search, and Google Plus.  Your business’s reviews will migrate with the about information you have populated on your Page, and have the potential to also appear in search results.   It will be important to share updates frequently, so visitors to the Page have a resource for learning about specials, your company, or industry news and trends you provide to your fan base.  Google+ users will be able to leave reviews and give your business a rating directly on your page.  You might want to consider a way to reward customer reviews, so there is a good representation of positive feedback about your business.

We specialize in social media strategy and search engine optimization for Google+ Business Pages.  This network, has the ability to drive traffic to your location as well as enhance your website’s position in natural search results.  If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of Google Plus for your business, call us at 800.787.0497 for a free consultation.

As Google Plus continues to gain popularity as a social network they have been investing a substantial amount of time into the user interface.  In a recent article about Google Plus, we reviewed the design changes for the desktop version of the social network.  This week, the Google Plus mobile app got a visual refresh and more desktop features are now available.   Here is a list of the improvements to expect when you update the app, and a visual comparison of the old user interface to the new.

• Visual refresh of the stream and improved navigation (see comparison chart)

• Initiate a Hangout from the main menu (Android only)

• Support for Hash tags in the stream

• Improved Third Party Sharing

• Support for ringing hangout notification (Android only)

• Support for post editing

• Messenger suggestions for people you may know

• Download photos from posts or Messenger conversations

A visual comparison of the changes to the Google Plus iphone App user interface boasts a very sleek new navigation-landing page.  The Google Plus stream highlights the posters’ profile image, making the author more recognizable while scrolling the feed.  It is also easier to access the user’s profile information or company page information, with a single click on the profile header on the post.  The new post view minimizes the text and link content in posts and highlights dynamic content like images and videos.  Currently there are only a small percentage of user’s who interact in Google Plus via the Mobbile App, but perhaps this cleaner, more dynamic, enhanced view will attract and encourage more participation.

What are your thoughts about the new user experience?  What other features from the desktop version of Google Plus would you like to see added to the Mobile App?