If you’re still resisting joining Google+, stop. Google is not backing out of their new social network, and any resistance at this point is only hurting your business. They continue to integrate Google+ into their search engine more and more, and every sign points to rewarding websites that use their social network.
In this post, we’re going to quickly examine a few of the ways that Google has integrated their social network into the SERP.
Google Author
This integration is the most noteworthy—it’s something you’ll see whether you’re logged into your Google account or not. Bloggers with Google+ profiles are able to get their content featured a little more distinctively on the SERP. Google will pull in a profile picture from their Google+ accounts, if they simply add a bit of HTML to their blog posts. See our blog post on Google Author for more information.
Google Places Becomes Google+
The Google Places to Google+ crossover was probably the most drasticof Google’s social integrations. All of the local businesses that set up accounts inside Google Places were moved over to a new look—the Google+ look. URLs changed over to plus.google.com and reviews were changed from the 1-5 star to the 30 point Zagat system.
Google+ SERP Share
This only happened (or at least was only noticed) a few weeks ago on Google—sharing enabled from right on the results page of Google. This isn’t a huge change (you can only see it if you’re logged in), but it’s just another sign of how Google is integrating Google+ into every aspect of their search engine.
So what are you supposed to do now that you have this information? Embrace Google+ wholeheartedly and learn how to use it best for your business. And remember if you need help, contact your team here at Smartz is available to assist with social media inquiries.