When you think about the number of benefits from Google+ for business, you may wonder why the social network has not caught on more quickly. Google+ is here to stay and it is time for professionals and businesses to start using Google+ as the powerful social networking and marketing tool that it is.
I’ve heard people say that Google+ would fade away, but more than 500 million members are active on Google+. While that number is less than Facebook, it is a significant number that continues to grow. It is also important to remember that Google+ is Google’s social network and they are undoubtedly determined for it to be a success. One way Google is ensuring that it will be successful is by providing so many benefits in Google+ for businesses, in addition to easily connecting with customers and clients.
Google+ Local
If you have a local business or if you want to be found locally, you will want to have a Google+ Local page. Google+ Local has replaced Google Places as the local listing for businesses. Having a Google+ Local page greatly helps businesses to appear in organic search results when a customer or client is searching for something locally. Whether it’s a search for a sandwich shop or a local law or accounting firm, every business should have a Google+ Local page.
Authorship
Authorship is one of the most important benefits of Google+ for businesses, especially if your business has a blog and or a content marketing campaign. Authorship allows you to link your Google+ page to a piece of content that you have written. At first this might not sound like a big deal, but it can significantly help organic search and clickthrough rates.
When you set up authorship, Google will consider the content you produce to be more trustworthy because it has been authenticated by your online profile in Google+. This means that there should be a slight boost in your organic rankings. Your Google+ profile picture will also show up next to your listing in search results. This will differentiate your content from other listings immediately, and has been show to positively effect clickthrough rates in Google’s organic search.
Authorship creates links between your Google+ profile, your company page profile, and the content you produce. These links will increase traffic to your website from Google+ as you begin to build a network and share content in the social network.
Google+ > Facebook + LinkedIn + Twitter
This simple equation really illustrates how businesses benefit from Google+. Google+ incorporates important elements and benefits from the major social networks. Hashtags are used to track trends and mentions are used to communicate directly with another user, similarly to Twitter. Google+ has a built in photo editor so that you can edit photos before you share them (an improvement to Facebook’s photo capabilities). The communities in Google+ operate much like the groups in LinkedIn, allowing users to share articles and start discussions.
The benefits of Google+ for business make the social network impossible to ignore. You can give your business an advantage in organic search results by setting up a business page and devoting some time to be active in the network. There are plenty of reasons to use Google+ for businesses alone. And if you enjoy using social media yourself, give Google+ a try. I promise you will not be disappointed.
