How Much SEO Juice Do You

Get From Google+?

Kevin Gibbons@kevgibb

o

FounderSEOptimis

e

May 2012

Let’s start with the theory – What are Google are saying?

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So we tested it out…

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CTR Impact:Homepage with +1’s vs site with

Google+ brand page

Test 1

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Site with no +1’s or G+ brand page

Result

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As expected,no impact

Website with 57 homepage +1’s & no G+ brand page

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Test 2

19% CTR without +1

0% CTR with +1

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Result

Test 3

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Site with 456 Google+

brand page votes

Result

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9% CTR without +1,

5% CTR with +1

Which means the CTR impact is…

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The lower CTR for +1’s actually makes sense for two

reasons:

1. +1 results are often less relevant than standard listings

2. Many homepages appear as annotated results (so normal CTR is likely to be high due to brand visits)

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So what about the impact to rankings & organic traffic?

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Test 1:Set of Clients Who Have No

Google+ Presence

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Source: Analytics Canvas

Result: 19.5% decrease in organic traffic

for clients who aren’t using Google++

Test 2: Clients Who Have a Strong

Google+ Presence

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Source: Analytics Canvas

Result: 42.6% increase in organic traffic

for clients who actively use Google+!

How about other brands?

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Result: Huge Organic Search Impact for Asos.com

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Does this mean Google+ has a direct correlation to organic

rankings?

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No!

But… does it really matter?

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Where are Google going with G+?

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“SEO is like being a weather

man”

Source: Greg Boser

Google are pushing G+ like crazy…

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@kevgibbo

Google Penguin is making link building harder

To Quote Danny Sullivan…

http://www.seobook.com/negative-seo#45959

“links are creaky, outdated signals that have increasingly been harder and harder for the search engines to depend on.”

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Which means social signals have to be measured by Google to assess a sites authority

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If I could give you 5 Google+ tips they would be…

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1) Focus your strategy on great content & stop chasing Google’s algorithm

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2) Build a great content team

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• Community manager

• Bloggers• Content strategist• Infographic

designer• Guest authors• Video producers

3) Use Rel=Author to link-up your writers using Google Authorship

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4) Create a G+ brand page & link to your site

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5) Share content daily, even if you have to force yourself!

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And lastly, 4 Google+ tools to help…

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1) View Social Connections to a scary level!

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http://www.google.com/s2/u/0/search/social#socialconnections

2) Find Influencers on FindPeopleonPlus.com

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3) Analyse your reach on Google+ Ripples

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4) Social Sources Activity Stream in Google Analytics

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http://bit.ly/gplusoffsite

In Summary…

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1. Google+ has negative influence to CTRs!

2. Websites using Google+ experiencing significant uplift in organic traffic

3. Strong social footprint is likely to make your rankings more defensible to algorithm updates

4. Make content marketing the centre of your SEO strategy

Thank you

Feel free to ask any questions & follow me online!

@kevgibbo

@kevgibbo