What that means is when it comes to measuring our success with the classic SEO metric — page ranking — you need to rethink your strategy because the game has changed. ~ Demian Farnworth, Copyblogger
The folks at Copyblogger explain why Google+ is the best social platform for content marketers. It has less to do with the destination of social media and much more about how Google+ is becoming Google. It has infiltrated all facets of Google products and the internet – Google Search, Adwords, Google Docs, Google Calendar, blogs, etc.
Your search results are no longer the same as another person searching on the same results. There are a number of factors which are producing a custom list of search results for your keywords which include:
- Your search history
- Who is in your Google+ network
- Who knows your Google+ network
- Where you are geographically located
It is called Search + Your World (S+YW) and has thrown the whole SEO industry on its head. Google knows a lot about you from your search history, where you are at, what is in your Gmail inbox, calendars and documents. This serves a custom and relevant search result different than your neighbor’s.
The benefit is that the frequency of irrelevant results is decreasing dramatically. Look at this search result on an article I created a few days ago:
I appear at the top of search results though logged in with my AscendWorks.com Google Apps domain. My authorship profile is listed to the left with a picture and my circle of influence is mentioned within Google+. If I am in your network or connected via Google+ circles, then I may appear higher because of the relationship whether directly or loosely.
The old game was about SEO companies masquerading their insights into gaming the Google bots and creating tags, keywords and scripts that would trick Google into ranking their content higher in search results. This was based on a static world with page ranking as the key target.
Google Panda and Penguin did a lot to move out irrelevant and gimmick search results. This is why you don’t see web spam as much anymore in your search results. Google Search has become much more intelligent.
Now with a social layer that allows Google to assess, quantify and ascribe page authority based on your behaviors and your relationships, your ability to get found will increasingly depend on high quality content and validated social connections that vouch for your content and work.
This social layer is becoming increasingly intelligent and valid. Our encouragement at AscendWorks is to ensure that you put a lot of focus on your content and ensure it is high quality and relevant to the people in your Google+ network. They are part of your credibility test now.
For us, nothing fundamental has changed. High quality content creates your brand. It positions you. The shelf life of images is much shorter. The shelf life of social media fades in minutes. The relative permanence of thought leadership and high quality content that real people value is where the game has moved. It’s fair and makes for a better world for consumers.
Now that you know that page ranking is not the only weighting factor, how are you going to integrate a strategy to engage with Google+, er Google?