If you haven’t already heard it from your ATI coach, you’re gonna hear it from us (again and again) Google+ is central to getting page one rankings. This is the post Google-merge universe. Your Google+ business page tells Google who and where you’re at and in turn they reward you by promoting rankings across organic results, places results and in the blended algorithm.

 

But having a static, verified page is no longer enough. If you haven’t already taken this first step, you need to get started today, before even approaching this topic. Contact your ATI coach or call us.

 

Jeff Sauer, a Digital Marketing Consultant, Speaker and Teacher based out of Minneapolis, MN and owner of Three Deep Marketing has just completed a case study emphasizing how important it is not only to have a Google+ page with verified info. that claims authorship of a website but that is engaging socially from that profile, either by sharing, liking (+1’ing) on topics that are relevant to their business.

He began by registering three separate domains and building out the site with similarly competitive keywords, themes, markups and server settings. Sauer tried to stabilize any variables that might cause these sites ranking outside of Google+.

 

With that in mind, he tested three variable parameters:

  • No Google+: One site was not at all connected to Google+ nor did it receive any +1′s

  • New Google+: One site was connected to a brand new Google+ account and verified itself as an author to the site. I gave the site homepage a +1 from this Google+ account.

  • Less Than Relevant Google+: One site was connected to my established Google+ account and verified as an author to the site. The site was in a niche that I have never before discussed on Google+. I gave the site homepage a +1 from this Google+ account.

  • Relevant Google+: One site was connected to my established Google+ account and verified as an author to the site. The site was in a niche that I talk about often on Google+. I gave the site homepage a +1 from this Google+ account. [JA]

The results were astounding. Within 8-10 hours, the sites that were connected to a Google+ profile had been crawled, and all were all ranking on Google’s SERP. The website that was relevant to things that author regularly discussed (in our case a Google+ profile that discusses auto repair and owns a website for an auto shop) ranked best, with the “less than relevant” Google+ (say you’re sharing a video of puppies but own an auto repair shop) coming in second. Even the page with a single +1 and no activity was ranking. The site with no Google+ was crawled not until 24 hours later and ranked about 15 places below the page with a single +1.

The Takeaway

As a shop owner, the more active you are on Google+, the better your rankings will be. It’s that simple. And we’ve seen it before: Google scratches the back of those who scratch theirs. Bad metaphor, sure, but it’s true. If you want to be competitive on the web, you have to be an active contributor on social media. And that’s not limited to Google+. As Matt Peters and Peter Bray discovered back in February Twitter re-tweets have a direct effect on Google rankings, too. If you needed some justification, like I did, this is a real wake-up call!

CW Taylor Marketing has implemented a social media campaign over the past several months that we are beginning to test out on a few of our favorite clients. We’ve developed analytics, tools and processes whereby we can measure and grow your social media experience. And if this study proves nothing else, it’s that social media has a direct relationship on rankings. Alright, Google+, we’re listening!