Last week, Google threw itself into the big world of social networking. They have launched a new project called Google+ which aims to make Google more social. It is a communications tool designed to complement and reflect all of our offline relationships. At the moment, Google+ is still in a limited field test and the service is currently restricted, unless you were one of the lucky people who got an invitation.

In the past, Google used Twitter for faster indexation of content, to power real time results and also for use in their ranking algorithm. It has been reported that Google removed real time results from Twitter and other websites such as their News and Facebook. However, Google plans to reinstate real time results using Google+.

Even though Google+ is different from Google+1, with each having their own unique functions – they do connect with each other. Users who have a Google+ account or a normal Google account will be able to click on the Google+1 button, which will essentially allow users to vote for their search results and see which websites other connections or friends have “+1ed”. Therefore, the result’s rankings will not only affect you, but also people that you are connected with through Google.

Some of Google+’s features

The main feature of Google+ is the Circles feature, which is similar to Facebook and Twitter Lists. Circles allow you to allocate contacts to Circles e.g. Family, Friends, Snowboarding Group, Acquaintances and whoever else you want in the Circle. You can then publish content to specific Circles or specific individuals, because as Google states, “not all relationships are created equal”.

At the moment, there seems to be more control over privacy on Google+ compared to Facebook. You can share photos with your family in one post, and then publish something publicly in the next post.

Hangout is another feature of Google+. It’s a group video chat feature where you can invite members of a certain group by sending them a notification. An additional feature of the new social networking site is Huddle, which is a mobile group chat service which could also become available from your mobile phone in the near future.

Sparks is an online sharing engine where you can create a topic of interest and share links with group friends who also have the same interests. E.g. you could share results of Snowboarding in France with your “powder chasing” friends.

Why Google+?

Some people may wonder why Google has bothered launching Google+. The reasons are because nowadays, search is about real-time information, people and the relevance of information to them, not just about pages.

Google has been an advocate for real time and social media for a while now, with Google Buzz, Google Places, Google Wave and not to mention the list of its acquisitions of social sites e.g. YouTube and Blogger.com.

The senior vice president who oversees Google’s social product, Vic Gundotra, said “It’s ‘project’ rather than a product because it’s an ongoing set of products and ‘Plus’ because it takes products from Google and makes them better”.

Google doesn’t see itself as a competitor to Facebook or Twitter, as they say that the way people connect online is limited – it’s just a new way to connect online with the people that matter to you.

What’s next?

For now, businesses and organisations have been warned to stay away from Google+. Christian Oestlien, advertising lead on the team behind Google+ explains that the social media site was designed for individuals in mind, “We’re working on building a optimised business experience for Google+ which will hopefully be rolled out later on this year. It will include the ability to connect to other parts of Google such as AdWords and other rich analytics”. However, their main focus at the moment is optimising the consumer experience for Google+.

In terms of SEO, social media won’t replace traditional SEO however, it will indeed help it. SEO practices including link building, content creation, keyword research and targeting will be the foundation for ranking success. Even though social media is gaining more importance and interest, using a combination of both technical SEO techniques and social media are the best steps towards success.

Sadly, we weren’t lucky enough to get our hands on an invite the first time round, but we are looking forward to when we are able to get onboard with the project.

2 months ago hundreds of websites instantly lost first page rankings and visibility in Google when the new Panda update classed their sites as being full of low quality content. Overnight, sites such as suite101.com, hubpages.com and articlesbase.com saw a huge percentage of their articles drop from 1st page rankings down to the farther reaches of the search results where users seldom venture.

This update had an instant and devastating impact on many content based sites, which lost rankings, traffic and in some cases a huge amount of revenue from the Google ads on their sites. By removing what it deemed to be ‘farmer content’ Google claimed that the new update would help search results be more accurate.

However, although the original Panda update did remove a lot of bulk, low quality content from Google it was criticised for also demoting a lot of original, interesting and useful content from search results, which was supposed to be promoted by the Panda update.

Panda 2.2
After receiving this criticism, Google’s Matt Cutts commented on the update at the recent Search Marketing Expo in Seattle, and said “don’t consider it finished”, proclaiming that the Panda update would be refined throughout the rest of the year in order to make sure it was more effective in singling out poor content.

Well, without warning and to the surprise of many, Google have this week confirmed the release of Panda 2.2, which will continue to penalise content farms but will do this in a more refined way.

Who will win and lose this time?
According to Google, the new version of Panda will still hit content farms but will also put more focus onto sites scraping content. What this means is that blogs and article sites that simply copy content from around the web will start to be completely dropped from Google’s search results by the new update.

Panda 2.2 will also apparently favour sites that have used strong SEO techniques. Basically sites that have large levels of content on say a blog or news page will not be hit, as many were with the first update, if the content is original, fresh, well optimised and not spammy.

So once again there will be hundreds of websites owners holding their breath as they check their rankings this week but at least this time around it should only be those filling search results with useless content that lose out.

Less than 2 months after the Google +1 feature made its first appearance in the US search results, Google has released +1 buttons that can be placed directly on web pages. Using a small snippet of code, the button can be placed on a web page in a similar fashion to the Tweet and Facebook Like buttons.

The idea behind adding the +1 feature to the Google search results is to make each person’s results more personalised and also more social, promoting sites in their results that they and they contacts have liked with the +1 button.

With the new +1 button directly on sites this idea continues, with people being able to +1 individual pages and pieces of content on a site, as well as the actual site itself within the Google search results. But will people use it?

Competition with Facebook and Twitter
When it comes to the Google search engine, the +1 button can completely dominate as neither Facebook nor Twitter can add their buttons to the search results, and therefore the only option to like or promote a site will be through +1. However, when it comes to actual web pages, the Google +1 button may struggle to compete with the Facebook Like and Tweet buttons.

The idea behind the Facebook and Twitter buttons is to allow users to share the piece of content amongst their friends, through their own personal profiles. So, for example, the web browser sees a great blog post about a new Google feature, Tweets it, which puts a link to the post into their Twitter stream, and then the users followers can go straight to the recommended piece of content.

It is the same concept with the Facebook Like button but with +1 the idea seems to fall away slightly. Yes if you hit the +1 button people within your Google address book will be able to see it but you are not really promoting it on a profile or sharing it in an open format.

Sharing Content or Promoting the Site?
With +1 you are essentially saying you approve of the site and are promoting it in your personal search results, whereas with Tweet and Like you are sharing it. +1 then doesn’t seem to really fall in line with the Twitter and Facebook buttons and so may receive less attention because of this.

In fact, it is only early days, but if you look at sites that have already integrated this new +1 button, alongside Tweet and Like, you can see that it is not generating nearly as many clicks.

Of course as people become more aware of +1 and it becomes common on sites it will be used more, but will people develop a greater affinity to +1 than Facebook and Twitter? Google are dominant in practically every area of online but, for now at least, they are 3rd place in the rankings for social.

At the end of last week Google announced that it would be rolling out the new +1 feature on the UK search engine, in an attempt to make search results more personalised and more importantly more social.

The new feature will add a +1 button to the side of natural and paid search results, which will work similarly to the Facebook Like button. As Google put it, you can “Click +1 to publicly give something your stamp of approval. Your +1’s can help friends, contacts, and others on the web find the best stuff when they search.”

So by giving something a +1 you will be promoting it and affecting its position in not only your own personal rankings but in those of your close connections and search as a whole. There is the potential then, for this to have a big impact for SEO and natural rankings.

The impact on SEO
This new +1 feature definitely plays into what appears to be a new social heavy strategy by Google, with Tweets and Facebook likes appearing to have a greater and greater impact on indexation of pages and site rankings.

This new feature also seems to continue the approach of the new Panda update that removed a lot of mass, ‘farmer’ content from Google and the new Blocked feature that allows users to block, what they consider to be, rubbish low value domains from their search results ( a kind of -1).

All in all then this could really change the nature of how websites optimise for Google, with a heavier shift towards social. What’s more, if, as many suspect, Google do purchase Twitter in the coming weeks, then, given the data they will have at their finger tips, a shift to social does make sense.

Problems with +1
However, although +1 does have the potential to make Google much more personalised and social, it is still likely to face one or two teething problems.

For example, if your search results are based on your Tweets, Facebook Likes and +1, what about the people not on these social networks? They exist too! Is it reasonable to base these people’s searches on user behaviour in a sector they take no part in and have no interest in?

Another point is that although this sounds like a great idea, it may just not ever happen. Currently there is no +1 button that people can add to their sites (like the Tweet and Like buttons) which means you have to +1 it in the search results.

Now, if you haven’t been on the site before you won’t know if you want to +1 it. So, this means going onto the site, deciding you like it and then bouncing back off it to +1 it. For some reason, I can’t imagine people taking the time or changing their search behaviour to do this.

If Google +1 works and takes off it could create the biggest social network we have ever seen, trumping both Twitter and Facebook, and completely revolutionise search results.

However, it may well be that we are not yet at the peak of social and that people, on mass, won’t really adapt their search behaviour towards the +1 for a few years.

Since the introduction of Google places, localised searches are becoming a topic of popular discussion within SEO; this is a new way to be found on Google. The online map directory has very quickly become a sort of yellow pages’ competition; search engines are already three times as popular! This has opened a new frontier for local businesses to market themselves. Despite this, it appears Google places is often overlooked by both businesses and SEOs.

Google places has many attractive features that can be optimised to meet your requirements, and improve your online presence. You will need to optimise your listings and make them a part of your SEO campaign for more effective results.

Attractive and beneficial key features

1. Google places is now incorporated in the main search engine this shows the importance Google will continue to place on local searches. We’ve noticed some searches now have as many ‘places’ results as regular organic results, Making this an ideal way to promote online presence, particularly for small to medium sized businesses.
2. Claiming your business is the first step. Using city and business keywords within the page title and listing is great for optimisation, resulting in a positive page rank. Your business may already rank so claiming it will only strengthen your positions especially after optimisation. This can really help close out your competitors as well as improve your overall clickthrough share.
3. Google places also comes with a range of tools to help market your business better. Tags are yellow markers that allow you to promote individual aspects of your business, for example, special offers.

The image shows how Google places appears after you have entered a search query.

Mobile phone web users, when downloading Google maps app, searching for any place of interest will automatically bring up local results. This is something I personally rely on especially when visiting a new area in the city. With so many benefits and key features it is hard to believe you have anything lose!