We’re active members in multiple forums and over the last few weeks forum members have been posting about how Google+ is increasing the SEO rankings on their site. Obviously Google hasn’t come out an explicitly told us that using their social network will boost rankings but it seems a small algorithm change has occurred and it’s starting to affect rankings.
Now one of the major reasons that Google+ is helping with search engine rankings compared to other social networks is Google actually indexes Google+ posts. This means content posted on Google+ with links can help to increase web property profiles with Google.
Google does take into account in their algorithm facebook posts, facebook likes and twitter updates but these are not indexed and thus have a lower impact on the actual outcome of your SEO effort. So if you’re in the business of generating traffic from FREE search traffic it just makes sense to use Google+ to help boost your rankings.
This leads me though to a greater point…
Does Using Google Services Help Raise Search Engine Rankings?
Let me ask you a question, if you were Google and your main business was advertising revenue and people using your products, would you incentivize businesses to use your products by giving better search rankings?
We believe most savvy business owners would answer yes, because if you can help a business then they are more likely to spend with you. Now we’re not saying this is what happens, but for years there have been rumors floating around the web that using Google Adwords, Google Adsense, Google Reader, Gmail and now Google+ helps your rankings.
Let’s face it, when Google acquired YouTube the number of video results on the home page of keyword searches increased. In fact you are 53 times more likely to rank on the home page of Google if you have video on your site, according to a new study.
If we’re to believe this recent study then using YouTube (a Google service) definitely helps with search engine rankings, and according to recent reports so does Google+. Which leads us to our next thought, if you can use Google Services without disrupting your normal business flow, then we’d recommend you use them.
While there’s no official statement from Google that this helps you with rankings it’s better to be doing all you can to be on the good side of Google. Now when we say using Google Services we mean services including Google Apps for businesses if possible.
The reason we specifically mention Google Apps is that recently a client of ours who has had her website live for 3 years without change switched to Google Apps on that domain to manage emails. Just days after this switch she was indexed by the Google Bot where some malware was found.
Now this malware had been on the site for years, but only when this change occurred did Google pick it up. Again, we can’t say for certain that the move to Google Apps forced this indexing to occur, but it does leave us wondering…
Does Using Google Services Help Raise Search Engine Rankings?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
