GooglePlus has now expanded to businesses

Social media optimisation experts have today been excited by the release of Google+ to businesses and brands. The social media platform has finally opened its doors to the masses and businesses are now allowed to create pages similar to the fan pages found on Facebook. However, is this too little too late?

One of the bigger questions being asked today was why Google+ has left it so late to open up its site to both the public and business alike. Was it trying to reduce the damage that would have been caused had the public not taken to Google+? Or was there some more noble reason to this decision? Did they want to protect the public from advertisements and branded pages a little longer? Either way it seems as if social media optimisation techniques will have to take into account Google+ factors for the foreseeable future. Yet what are these factors?

Of course, being a part of search engine giant meant the Google+ had to be incorporated into Google searches in some special way. For Google+ this is by adding a plus sign (+) to the beginning of a search term in Google.co.uk in order to bring up its homepage. For instance, if you were to type +seojunkies into Google.co.uk, it would automatically bring up the Google+ page for SEOjunkies. Considering this, in addition to the suspected positive effects the +1 button can have on a page, Google+ is beginning to appear as if it could be a powerful tool in overall SEO tactics, in addition to social media optimisation.

Still, the Google+ business pages have their disadvantages too. Whether this is a permanent thing or because the social media platform in relatively new, Google+ fan pages are not as appealing as Facebook’s, nor the do they have the same level of customisation. Let’s face it, a Google+ fan page bears little difference from a regular user page, and it certainly looks sparse compared to those of Facebook. It provides little integration whilst Facebook allows a brand to integrate their self with their fan page, making their brand more prominent and enriching the user experience. Google+ affords little opportunity to raise awareness of your brands.

Unless Google+ adopts more dynamic sensibilities, it seems as if their place within the world of social media optimisation will be rather small indeed. To learn more about how Google+ can improved your business call us on 0845 373 0595 or e-mail sales@seojunkies.com.