GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 19 - February 2012

I’m curious to see over the next 12 months what Google’s long-term plan will be with G+ and +1, as they both parallel Google’s other tools nicely. Although I wasn’t able to identify any real effect on rankings while testing the thresholds of G+ and +1 for SEO, I think Google will definitely be using this as a metric in the future. After all, they are already allowing it to alter the way their results appear and losing real estate at the same time. Oh, plus there’s this that they let slip a few months ago (in a Forbes.com interview that was mysteri- ously removed): Google is encouraging web publish- ers to start adding +1 buttons to their pages, and the message in this meet- ing was clear, “Put a Plus One button on your pages or your search traffic will suffer.” LiketheBoyScoutsmottosays:“Beprepared.” I would (at the very least) add a multi- ple-choice social bookmark bar to your sites. At the end of the day social media as a whole benefit your rankings and your traffic to some extent. I have tested Twitter and Facebook to see if they en- hanced search rankings, and both defi- nitely did. This leads me to believe that Google just hasn’t turned on the tap yet and better things are yet to come. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gary R. Beal is the head of search at Blueclaw Media in Leeds, U.K. He has been in the Search Engine Optimization field for 12 years. He attended Ohio State University in the U.S. and holds a Master’s degree in Biometrics and Mathematical Statistics. He specializes in SEO for very competitive markets, primarily in the gaming, dating, travel, insurance and financial industries. He has spoken at many SES, SMX ,CAP, AAC, EIG, G2E, AIG, GPWA, CAC and A4UExpo conferences around Europe and has also been on dozens of expert SEO panels. Gary has written specialized articles for multiple online marketing publications and moderates on three separate affiliate forums and as an affiliate has great insight. He is known best for his free one-on-one sessions during conferences and his noncommercial, plain-talk delivery. In the online world he is GaryTheScubaGuy and is known for his Top 12 SEO Tips. “ The concept behind G+ and +1 is simple: Copy what Facebook did. In terms of the SEO benefit from either the +1 or the G+ button, it’s a matter of the size of your network. 49