Launched back in June 2011 to compete with Facebook, Google introduced its new social network, Google+. Android Authority reports that it now has over 500 million registered users, with 135 million being active. Nevertheless, from a social network that’s only been live for 18 months, those numbers are quite impressive.
Despite Facebook being the social media giant that Google is still trying topple, and behind in registered users. Google+ is still a work in progress, especially since the #1 complaint seems to be, “It’s great to use, but none of my friends are on it.”
But if we move beyond that problem, and forget their failings with Orkut, Buzz and Google Wave. There’s just something different with Google+ that makes it impossible to ignore.
If you’re a business, you might want to take another look at it for the following top three reasons.
Top 3 Reasons To Join Google+ Today
Search Engine Optimization
In terms of boosting your SEO efforts, Google+ is definitely the social network to be on. Google has been the king of search and maintains that position despite attempts from Microsoft’s Bing.
What Google+ has over other social networks is its ability to index your posts, and have them appear in its search engine. In contrast, Facebook doesn’t allow Google indexing, which limits your ability to reach a wider audience beyond Facebook.
More Visibility
Another thing to consider is that back in January 2012, Google integrated its search with Google+. Meaning that your posts and videos appear side-by-side with traditional authoritative search results.
The thing with Google+ is that it is built to make content more discoverable. But still lets you decide who gets to see your posts.
For instance you can put your connections into circles and choose who gets to see your posts – while public posts can be found by anyone, and appear in Google Search.
Better Engagement
However Google+ does more to make your content more visible, by allowing users to search, view and comment on other people’s post. What this means is that you don’t need to be in someone’s circle in order to engage with them and vice versa.
Essentially, businesses have a better way of reaching out to, and finding their target audience. Another neat feature is Google+ Ripples, which displays an interactive graph of who has been sharing your public posts.
Other features the social network has to offer for better engagement include: Google Hangouts, that lets you video chat with up to nine people. And the recently launched Google Communities, which is similar to Facebook groups and allows users will the same interests to interact.
If you’re looking for an edge with your inbound marketing, you might want to jump on the Google+ bandwagon and learn all the tricks early on. Facebook still remains to be the #1 social network. But with Google pouring its resources into making Google+ a success, we can expect more features to be integrated from the search giant.
For a detailed look into how you’re ranking on Google, sign up for your free Cuutio account today.
Photo by Kostas Papageorgiou
