Just as social media and blogging are becoming inseparable as the later has been playing a major role to the development and growth of the former. I have decided to look at the reasons why Google+ is a better platform for bloggers than Facebook and even Twitter. I can authoritatively tell you here that Google+ is just as valuable – if not more valuable – for bloggers than Facebook and Twitter. Social media signals play an important role in search engine rankings but that of Google+ seems to have even more value.
In an earlier blog post titled “Why bloggers should choose Google Plus as their social network” I gave reasons why bloggers should choose Google+ as their preferred social media network and the benefits of doing so. You should check it out; now let’s see the reasons why Google+ is a better platform for bloggers.
1. Authorship
Google+ users can sign up for Google Authorship unlike the other social media platforms. Google authorship is very important for any webmaster who wants to earn Google’s trust and attract more search engine users to their blogs.
Google authorship will have your picture displayed alongside your search engine listings and this will add more credibility to your listing and can also ensure more people follow you on Google+.
From the image above, not only can you see my head shot but also a byline and the number of followers I have on Google+. I have explained how I claimed my blog’s Google authorship and its benefits.
2. Better Timeline algorithm
Just recently I published a blog post on how Facebook tweaked its timeline algorithm to reduce the number of people that can see your shared posts so you can pay for advertisements to get your posts promoted. Well there is no need to pay for your content to reach the people who have already said they want to see your posts when you share them on Google+.
As a blogger you want your post to be seen by as many people as possible especially those who are already following you or your page but the case is different on Facebook with their algorithm tweak that only allows a little percentage of your followers or fans to see the posts you shared even on your pages.
You have probably seen the “Promote Post” button if you have been to Facebook, Facebook wants you to pay for your posts to be shown to everyone who has liked your page, but this is different on Google+. You don’t have to pay to get your post to be seen by anyone who has added you to their circle.
3. SEO
Do you know that there is a correlation between high search engine ranking and number of Google +1s? A recent study published on Moz blog explained that Google +1s has a ranking effect in search engine rankings. According to the study Google +1s have a higher correlation than that of Facebook activity which has made Google+ a better platform for SEO than Facebook.
Another thing you may have noticed about Google+ and search engine ranking is that posts shared on Google+ gets crawled and indexed almost immediately which has been my major way of getting my new posts indexed and ranked almost immediately.
Do you also know that your shared links on Google+ pass link equity? Pages and posts on Google+ pass link equity because links to posts are followed. So why won’t you want to pass links juice to your blog by sharing your posts on Google+?
4. Author Rank
As many rightly feared someday Google may use authorship information connected to Google+ accounts to rank websites on their search results. This is another reason why you should use Google+ as a blogger, earn Google’s trust and friendship now because you just might need it someday.
5. Higher Visibility on Search Engine Results
Have you noticed that sometimes a link from Google+ appears on search engine results? Of course Google wants their network to succeed and so public posts and profiles often show up on Google search engine results because they index their own social media platform unlike that of Facebook and Twitter. As a blogger you can take advantage of this and get your posts to be seen on search engine results for greater readership.
6. Better platform for building relationships
Google+ is no doubt a better platform to build and maintain relationships than Facebook or any other social media platform. Yes while you can have a video chat on Facebook you can even achieve more with Google+ hangouts.
Google+ Hangouts are live broadcasts which can be recorded and posted to your timeline or embedded in a post; you can even publish it on your Youtube channel. Google Hangout can contain up to 10 people at a time in a video conference chat.
This can be used as a great tool to connecting with people, building and maintaining relationships with other bloggers and your audience.
Conclusion
As a blogger I have been using Google+ and I can tell you that it is by far a better platform for bloggers. Take advantage of this platform and improve your blog in this 2014 especially if you haven’t been very active on it. Let me hear what you think of Google+ as compared to the other social media platforms, use the comment form below to share your thoughts. Remember to subscribe to my blog while you are on it.
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I also find that the community on G+ is more aware and the discussions on my post via them more intelligent.
Valid points you have there. Staring this year my goal is too be more active on Google+ as well as I see there’s a lot of potential there. Previously my main focus was Facebook and Twitter which has been good for me.
Most Google+ users are serious minded people like bloggers, webmasters, internet marketers, etc unlike Facebook where every Tom and Harry have an account. Its a common sight to see irrelevant contributions on Facebook discussions.
What’s great about the Google Plus community is that they are more serious than the Facebook users. I guess you can see they are more intelligent in a sense. I get that the people who are on google plus more, are the ones who are looking for a better community. Thanks for sharing!
Nice post Nwosu :)
I love Google + and am driving traffic from it. I do agree with your views and I published a similar post under the topic “Google Plus SEO strategies”. So am familiar with the benefits of using G+ for blogging.
Yes, +1 has effect on search rankings and more +1s would help to get good SERP.
Thanks for sharing this useful post Nwosu, keep doing it :)
You have a valid point there – but adding facebook and other social networks to draw traffic is still worth it. At least for the fact that you can reach wider audience from there.
I can’t agree more with you…thanks for your awesome contribution.
Thanks Nirmala for your awesome contribution, am glad you can confirm my claims via your comment. Google+ is a better platform for bloggers for these reasons and more.
facebook users belong to different occupations and because Google plus is mainly popular to bloggers, it became a social media for bloggers. Many status updates i found in facebook are usually irrelevant in my occupation (excluding status updates from facebook4freelancers) while google plus always offers articles that are relevant to blogging and online writing
I think Google gives more value to Google+ if compared to other social networks. We can get traffic from other resources too however Google is the king, we have to make it happy.
Hello Nwosu,
This subject has been gathering momentum for some time now…I have even had cause to give it some serious consideration on my blog many times.
What this means is that Facebook is gradually given the red card! Since Google controls the bulk of search (and all content creators crave organic traffic), it’s long overdue that FB’s algorithm needs another retweak (I think) – or they will lose. And lose out big time!
That’s one of the supreme benefits of capitalism, by the way!
Always,
Terungwa
Google is making Google+ part of their mainstream and you can’t ignore Google as an author or publisher and the way they linked all their services means you just can’t use some and ignore others. You just have to use Google and Facebook should see this and think twice about letting Google into their data.
Community on G+ is more aware and active just because I notice that many bloggers are active and quickly response to any query or post. Most of them are using G+ and ready to interact with each-other.
One more things that makes Google+ stands out among all is targeted communities. They are not as spammed as Facebook Groups. You can build good relations with like minded people in these communities.
Well explained post. Authorship function is a great one and will benefit bloggers tremendously. Google+ is the future. Thanks for sharing this great post.