Google+: the Increasing Plusses of Google Plus
When I last talked about Google Plus, I remarked on filling out one’s profile and developing relationships with others. It has a nice platform for conversing, similar to that of Facebook, but the conversations tend to be more business-like in nature. I also find photos look pleasing on Google+ – many photographers have taken to the platform, especially since, unlike Facebook, the terms of service do not want to claim your photos.
Since that time, Google+ has updated its logo to the bright red with the small g+. The platform also added pages for business. Last week brought a new change:
Google Search Plus.
Game Changer – Google Search Plus
Praveen has a review and some great images of how Google Search Plus looks on his site. You can go to Google now and see it in action for your own searches.
I’ve seen some complain about the new Google search – some are threatening to switch to Bing. My feeling, however, is just know that you can turn it on and off. I put the on and off buttons on the right side of this paragraph to show how the on and off buttons appear on my browser.
Get the Google+ Code for Your Own Site
First of all, if you don’t yet have the +1 button on your posts, here’s the code for the +1 button. There are also WordPress plugins for the +1 button. You want to give your readers the opportunity to vote on your posts.
Finally, learn about Google Authorship. Google has a method for verifying whether you actually wrote a post. This is matched up with your Google profile. You can learn a way to set up the code on Steve Hippel’s post. If you want a more detailed method for setting up the code on your author.php, you can check out Yoast’s post on Google Authorship. I used Yoast’s version, because it allowed me to have separate Google profile links on guest post pages. One small detail with Google+ profile links on guest post pages: in order for these to be verified by Google, the guest blogger would need to have a link back to your blog on their Google+ About page. Not likely if they have only written one guest post. There is now a WordPress plugin for Google Authorship. Whatever method you use, you should check that it is working using Google Webmaster Rich Snippets.
Have you taken out the time to set up Google Authorship on your site? With the new search changes, it might bring you even more clicks to your blog posts.
Leora – Thanks for linking back. I need to still check out the Google Authorship that you have mentioned. I will do that right away.
Praveen Rajarao´s last [type] ..The Naked Truth About Kristi Hines
Thanks for the comment, Praveen. You covered the topic of Google Search Plus well – no need for me to write much more, other than to put it in context.
This Google Authorship was what I talking about on the comment I wrote on Friday on Google+ – that “unfriendly” text was straight from Google Webmaster Rich Snippets tool. Fortunately, it’s not that difficult to set up, at least for your own posts on your own blog.
Hi Leora,
I must admit to being a bit behind with Google+. I have joined, and made some circles, and I post sometimes, but that is about as far as I have got.
I really must get involved more, and your tips will be revisited so I can do that,
Barry
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Barry,
Glad my post gives you the impetus to do a little more with Google+. It is an ongoing story, keeping up with search engine and social media changes. I’m sure there will be more to tell in the months ahead.
I appreciate the comment, and welcome to Websites for Small Biz blog.
Hi Leora.
Thank’s for giving my post a mention. I too read Praveen’s post and it’s a valuable read that I would highly recommend. I’m glad to see that there is now a plugin available for Google authorship markup. It’s ironic that this was released so soon after we both done it the hard way.
Steve Hippel´s last [type] ..IM Automator – Automated Social Bookmarking Tool
Steve, I don’t think Yoast’s way is the hard way; I always prefer doing something by code if I can. Too many plugins means relying on too many authors. Also, doing it Yoast’s way I was able to fine tune my author.php page. Can’t do that with a plugin!
Thanks so much for leaving a comment.
I quite agree Leora.
Hard coding is also more efficient. When I said, the hard way, I meant it as a figure of speach. I should have chosen my words more carefully. I did not think about the fact that it may put people off doing it the best way. The plugin is a very handy alternative for people that do not know HTML.
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Yes, and a lot of people are “do-it-yourself”-ers nowadays. So it’s good we have so many willing plugin writers.
Hey Leora,
I also read Praveen’s post about this new search feature but for the life of me I can’t understand why I don’t have those search options when I pull up Google. I’ve checked it out in both Chrome and FireFox but they just aren’t there.
I went in search of an answer and was told the only way you can turn off the personal search is by clearing all your cookies and history. Are you aware of this?
I’ll have to check out the authorship information. I don’t write a lot of guest posts so I’m not sure if this is anything I need to rush into at the moment.
Thanks Leora and if you come up with something on that please do let me know. I would appreciate that.
Adrienne´s last [type] ..Why Content Is Not The Only King On The Internet
Adrienne,
I don’t know why the new search options aren’t showing up on your browser. As I said in my post, you can turn them on and off with a click on the right side of the browser, not a big deal for me.
Regarding Google Authorship, it’s not specifically for guest posts, it’s for all your posts. So, yes, it is a good idea to set it up for your site. Sounds like you can install the Google Authorship plugin, and it will work for you.
Thanks for stopping by, Adrienne.
Hey Leora,
I still haven’t got hung up on Google +; though I’ve joined it way back and have made all the circles and all that jazz, I somehow haven’t got used to it as much. I am still a lil Facebook crazy!
Time to tap into the power of the +!
Hajra´s last [type] ..Will they call you over for a bloggers party?
Hajra,
Because of Google’s strength as a search engine, Google+ is becoming one social media platform on which we all should spend some time.
Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment!
A big plus (hehe) to Google+ is that Google will index new sites and pages that get linked to on Google plus. Rand Fishkin recently tested this again to make sure it was still working and it only took 20 minutes after posting a link into Google+ for a brand new page to be indexed and found in Google. Here is a link to Rand’s G+ thread https://plus.google.com/111294201325870406922/posts/Ya4B9oFXFN1
I also second, third, or whatever number the importance of Google Authorship – especially as Google Author Rank gets closer to becoming a reality.
Thomas,
Thanks for adding that link to Rand’s post. Quite a discussion going on there. Mark Traphagen in the past helped me with a Google page problem. He’s also a good one to follow, in addition to Rand Fishkin (an overall SEO guru).
I’ve had some conversations with Mark concerning Google Authorship – he started a great Google+ Community all about the subject of Authorship. A great group of professionals can be found there : https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/104474428845467390263