Google+for

publishers

Arne van Elk RNW Business Intelligence

December 2013

Google+ for publishers

• What is Google+ ?• Impact on search results?• Authorship & author rank• Google+ Brand Pages• Rel=publisher

it’s like

… but different.

What is Google+ ?

Web pages can be shared within circles or receive a +1

But what is Google+ exactly?A social layer across Google’s services

Google+ is also an identity platformdirectly connected to Google search

Mapping a web of people & organizations

Google’s Goal of Google+ …

Generate data that can be used to improve search results

Impact on search results?

1. Personalization

2. Google+ posts in search results

3. Shared links are ‘follow’: they let pagerank flow

Google+ impact on personalized results

depersonalizedpersonalized

Google+ impact on personalized results

personalized

This result is on no. 1because an influental person I follow on Google+ has sharedthe link

Google+ local page impact on search results

This result probably is no. 1 because they have a Google+ local page

(and I wasn’t even looking for them)

Google+ Posts in search results

Can Google+ Impact Non-Personalized Rankings of

Content Created Off Platform?

it’s complicated …

Can Google+ Impact Non-Personalized Rankings of Content Created Off Platform?

• Currently +1’s are not used as ranking signal

• But, when a link to a page is shared on Google+, this creates a ‘followed’ link that can pass pagerank

Shared links are ‘follow’

Authorship

• Verification of the author of an article by linking a personal Google+ page to the article page using rel=“author”

Result is: • Increased visibility/CTR in SERPs• Possible protection against being outranked in

Google Search by those who scrape your content and republish it on their own sites.

What are you looking at?

Authorship SERP Benefits

Does it work? Depends on the type of search …

Not just any author

of course it helpswhen you activelyuse Google+

Even more info when you click on the author’s name

Authorship may help to get in Google’s In-depth-articles - feature

Authorship is NOT a ranking factor!The concept of author rank has not taken off (yet)

Authorrank challengesHow does Google know fore sure …

• if certain words on a page refer to a human being• if that human being is the author of a given page• what authority this author has, on which topics• which author is more authoritative than others

(on a given subject)• when things change (because of career changes,

retirement etc.)

When AUTHORSHIP adoption is low, AUTHORRANK does not reflect ‘the real world’

Google+ Brand Pages

Google+ Brand Pages: different flavors

Advantages of a Google+ Brand Page

• Taking up more space in SERP for a branded search• Creating new touch points for people to engage with

your content• Quick indexation of new pages• Verifying brand identity with rel=“publisher”• Getting in the ‘suggested users’ list• +Post Ads: Google+ Content in Ads on Google Display

Network

In other words: strenghtening your presence in Google

In ways that will see a lot of development in the coming years

Suggested users list

New advertising options coming up+Post Ads: Google+ Content in Ads on Google Display Network

Direct link to Google+ page in Ad

Rel = “publisher”

• Markup that verifies brand identity by linking a website to the corresponding Google+ Brand Page

• The Google+ page will be displayed in search results for a branded search(sometimes)

Disadvantages of a Google+ Brand Page

• Another beast’s mouth to fill• Spreading your social media efforts too thin• Is your audience on Google+?

Finally: do the test

www.steadydemand.com/Google-Plus-Brand-Audit-Tool.php

Read on

• www.martinshervington.com/what-is-google-plus

• www.blindfiveyearold.com/authorship-is-dead-long-live-authorship • www.blindfiveyearold.com/build-your-authority-not-your-author-rank

• www.google.com/+/business/ • http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/googleplus-for-journalists.pdf

• http://

searchenginewatch.com/article/2307518/Google-SEO-How-Google-Impacts-Search-Results