THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO GOOGLE+FULL INTRODUCTION TO

GOOGLE+

Table of Contents

1. The Basics: Google+

2. Pages, Communities & Hangouts

3. Recommendations & Strategy

What is Google+?

• Google+ is the spine / social layer that connects all Google products

(Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Docs, Drive, Calendar)

“It’s really the unification of all of Google’s services, with a common social layer”

Vic Gundotra, Senior VP, Social for Google

What is Google+?

• Google+ is the spine / social layer that connects all Google products

(Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Docs, Drive, Calendar)

“We’ve been consolidating the different services, so today Search, YouTube, the Google Play app store, all this plugs into Google+.

And the reason for that is that Google+ is kind of like the next version of Google”

Steve Grove, Director of partnerships for Google+

Why is Google+ so Special?

Google+ posts are accessible by Google• All posts are indexed & crawled almost immediately

• Google+ posts can be featured in the search results and have a long life span (which isn’t typical of other

social media channels)

Google+ effects Personalized Search Results• The Google+ posts that appear are influenced by your Google+ actions & your friends G+ actions

• If I’m following a user who either +1 / Follow a Page on G+ or engaged with a post on G+, the higher

chances this page / post will appear on my search results in a higher position.

• +1s are a popularity ranking signal that affect SEO the most (both for Page & Posts)

Why is Google+ so Special?Squarespace ranks for position #3No Friends +1ed or followed their Google+ page

Squarespace ranks for position #24 Friends +1ed or followed their Google+ page

The Basics: Google+The technical “stuff”

The Basics: Stream• Similar to the FB News feed

• The stream will show posts and updates from the

people you follow in one of your circles

• You can filter your stream to show only a specific

circle

The Basics: CirclesOrganizing The People You Follow• Circles are the way to organize the people you follow

into groups, based on a common base you decide.

• You can place someone you follow into more than

one circle.

• Rules - • No one in a circle can see who else is in the circle (unless you

share the circle publicly)

• No one can see how you’ve named a circle (even if you share

the circle publicly)

• No one can see how many people are in the circle (unless you

share the circle publicly)

• When you add someone to circle they will be notified (but not

what circle name)

The Basics: CirclesSharing a Circle• You can share a circle you created with the public.

• The Name of the circle won’t be revealed, just the

members of the circle.

• All the rules described in the previous slide are

effective in this case as well.

Share circle

The Basics: PostingPosting on G+

• User can share a photo, video, link, event or even a full article.

• Once you post, you need to select how and with who you

goanna share your post – public / extended circles / specific

circles / specific people.

• Formatting text:

• _italics_ italics

• *bold* bold

• -strikethrough- strikethrough

The Basics: Posting

A Post Can Get 4+ from One User• +1ing the Google+ Post

• +1ing the Google+ Badge

• Re-share

• Comment

The Basics: PostingThe Elements of a Good PostIn general you can play around the formatting, but 1, 6 & 7 are super important.

1. Title - make the title bold

2. Summary - Include an excerpt telling your reader what this post is about.

3. Link – add a link to your website or the post page on your blog.

4. Commentary - include your personal opinion/thoughts.

5. Engagement - ask a question, prompt people to discuss & engage. Mention

people, by +NAME or @NAME, to encourage them to participate in the

conversation.

6. Hashtags - SUPER IMPORTANT! MAKE THEM RELEVANT! OR Let Google

Decide it for you (which can be better in many cases).

7. Image - Add an attractive and clear image.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

The Basics: Tagging

Tagging Post with #• #Hashtags are a way to tag a post, so people can find it / rediscover a post by

searching for #xxxxxxxxxx

• Up to three hashtags appear at the top of post as “related hashtags” (although you

can use more than 3 tags)

• Manual Tagging vs. Automater Google Tagging – • You can provide your own hashtags in the post

• If you don’t provide hashtags, Google will automate them for you

• Sometimes it’s good to see what Google suggests for hashtags, because often times Google will

suggest to you what’s trending. Therefore it is a good idea to see what Google spits out.

• You can delete the hashtags automated by Google by simply hovering your cursor over the hashtag

and clicking on the X

• If you provide less than three hashtags, Google can potentially add more hashtags to your post

The Basics: Tagging

Clicking on this takes you to a search for “#London” within Google+

Gray colors are those used by the author

Blue colors are hashtags added by Google based on the content of the post

The Basics: Posting

Use Influencers to Expend your Outreach• A great way to do this, is to target influencers who are already covering the niche

you are targeting by +mentioning their name in a post so they have no choice but to

respond.

• “Observe when key influencers in your target audience post the most and try

sending out your messages around those times.” – Dustin Stout

The Basics: Sharing ContentSharing is set by Circles• Circles are a way to control who has access to your

post, but it doesn’t guarantee that they will actually

see it.

• When you post or re-share content, you can

determine who to share it with – • Public – Visible to anyone who's added you to a circle, as well

as on your public profile.

• Extended Circles – Everyone in your circles, plus all the

people in their circles.

• Limited – specific people or specific circles.

Public

Extended Circles

Limited

The Basics: Sharing ContentScenario #1• A is not following B

• B is following A

• A posted and shared public

• B will see A’s post in his stream

• All users can see A’s post on A’s G+ profile

Scenario #2• A is not following B

• B is following A

• A posted and shared extended circles

• B will not see A’s post in his stream

• Only people A’s is following and the people in their circles can

see A’s post on A’s G+ profile

Scenario #3• A is following B

• B is following A

• A posted and shared public

• B will see A’s post in his stream

• All users can see A’s post on A’s G+ profile

Scenario #4• A is following B

• B is following A

• A posted and shared extended circles

• B will see A’s post in his stream

• Only people A’s is following and the people in their circles can

see A’s post on A’s G+ profile

The Basics: Sharing ContentScenario #5• A is not following B or C

• B is following A , not following C

• C is not following A or B

• A posted and shared public

• B will see A’s post in his stream

• C can see A’s post on A’s public G+ profile (as all other users in

G+)

Scenario #7• A is following B , not following C

• B is following A , not following C

• C is not following A or B

• A posted and shared public

• B will see A’s post in his stream

• C can see A’s post on A’s public G+ profile (as all other users in

G+)

Scenario #6• A is not following B or C

• B is following A , not following C

• C is not following A or B

• A posted and shared extended circles

• B will not see A’s post in his stream

• Only people A’s is following and the people in their circles can

see A’s post on A’s G+ profile

Scenario #8• A is following B , not following C

• B is following A , not following C

• C is not following A or B

• A posted and shared extended circles

• B will see A’s post in his stream

• Only people A’s is following and the people in their circles can

see A’s post on A’s G+ profile

Pages, Communities & HangoutsWhat are the differences, What are the Pros & Cons, What to do with Each

PagesPage vs. Profile• Users can +1 Pages, but can NOT +1 profiles.

• Pages are usually better for companies, while profile are more suitable for people.

• Users can’t post to a profile at all. Pages can be modified by several entities, while a profile can be

modified only by the person the profile belongs to.

Capabilities (PAGES ONLY) Owner Manager Communications Manager

Add/remove managers yes

Delete account Yes

Edit profile yes yes

Manage YouTube videos & Hangouts on Air yes yes

Most other actions yes yes yes

PagesWays to Interact with a Page

• Follow/Circle the page

• Circling a page means you are following / subscribed to this page, and the

page’s posts will appear in your stream.

• NO MUTUAL RELATIONSHIPS

• +1 the page - really important

• Influences organic personalized rankings

• Encourages users to click this option when they see their friends +1ed the

page

• +1, comment, or reshare a page’s posts

PagesWhere the +1 Comes From

• The max numbers of +1 per user is 4 - • Following a page - When you follow a page the counter will go up, but

won’t show you that you +1ed the page.

• +1ing a page - This is actually+1ing the Google+ page

• +1ing a page outside of Google+ on a verified site - Assuming there is a

Google+ badge on the site, you can +1 a page and the counter will go up

• Joining a community - If the community is opened by the page, then

members who join the community will count as a +1

• +1s will never be smaller than follows (following a page makes

the counter goes up by 1)

CommunityWhat is a Community

• Communities are a great way for people to connect, discuss &

share thoughts around a mutual interest or topic.

• Communities enables users who are part of the community not

only to comment or re-share posts, but also to post their own

posts.

• Therefore, communities are better option to hear what your

crowd is interested about, to identify influencers and evangelists

and to encourage users to speak about what they want.

CommunityWhat can you do with a community?

• What can you do with a community?

• Open a new community

• Join an existing community

• Post in a community

• +1 a post

• Comment on a post

• Re-share a post

CommunityThe 4 Different Types of Communities

NOTICEprivacy cannot be changed once decided

CommunityCommunity Hierarchy

Owner: has 100% control of the communityAdd & edit categories, remove posts, remove members from a community, ban members from the community, promote moderators

Moderators: remove posts made by members, remove members from the community, ban members from the community

members:Can post to the community, +1, reshare comments, be promoted to moderators*members can be promoted to moderators

Community

• This is the community picture,

name, and tagline.

• The community name and tagline

should include the keywords your

target audience might use, since

this will help with visibility within

Google+ when users search for

your community

Community

• Categories organize the discussions

in your community.

• Categories are decided by the

community owner.

• Categories give members an idea of

what your community is about, and

how they can contribute

• Categories also help members find

the topics they’re most interested

in

Community

• About this community - This is

where you write what the

community is about. This gives

members a clear explanation as to

why this community exists.

• It’s also recommended to write the

community policy, and rules here

CommunityRecommendations• Promote your community as a place where people can have

conversation and share ideas

• Participated in conversations by posting, leaving comments, and +1ing

posts

• Celebrate and engage with your members

• Add moderators and invite them to manage content and share regularly

• Add categories to help guide discussions

• Listen to and learn from your community’s members

• Write an initial post to set expectations and welcome new members

• Check in daily in your community to make sure that right kinds of

conversations are happening.

HangoutsHangouts are Group Chats of 3 Kinds -

• Chat - Google’s replacement for gmail chat

• Video Hangout

• Live video call with up to 10 friends

• Hangouts on Air

• Live stream & live conversations

• Same format as video hangout, except that an unlimited number of people can tune in,

as long as they have the URL

• Schedule broadcasts, and go live. It will be recorded & automatically saved on your

YouTube channel

• Option to make it as a Q&A session so that everyone can participate

Recommendations & Action Items

Verify your G+ Channels

• You should verify all your channels

Connect your Youtube Channels to our G+ Pages

• Connecting between G+ page and Youtube will allow your users to watch your videos on G+.

• It also allow users to engage with your video and therefore influence their appearance in Youtube & Search results.

Make the Most out of Your Introduction

• The links in the introduction are FOLLOW links, and you need to take advantage an use them.

• You should include keywords within your intro as this affects the search results in G+.

Recommendations

Posting

• POST FREQUENTLY! No less than 2-3 times a day (but more is better)

• Post content that you published on our blogs & sites to increase this content outreach and search visibility.

• Post content that is unique to this channel, to give the users a good reason to return and visit our page.

• Use smart engaging tactics to increase users engagement like: +1 if you agree, ask the users for their opinion

• Series of content work extremely well on G+.

• INCLUDE IMAGES/VIDEOS IN POSTS!

Recommendations

Tag posts correctly and in a useful way to be discover

• You should strategize hashtags to include other more commonly searched terms.

• The hashtags should describe the posts best way possible.

• It is a good idea to sometime let Google+ decide how to hashtag the post (based on the content) as it will pick the most trend

relevant terms.

Make Unique & Consistent for the G+ channel

• Include different series of posts & #tag them under a unique name so users can follow

• EXAMPLE: #TheYellowMonkey

• Start the post with #TheYellowMonkey

• Informational tip, something that induces sharing!

Recommendations

Hangouts On Air - GREAT & Unique content to use on G+

• Live stream & live conversations - an unlimited number of people can tune in, as long as they have the URL

• Schedule broadcasts, and go live. It will be recorded & automatically saved on your YouTube channel

• Users can ask & participate via twitter / posting questions on our G+ channel etc.

Communities to Manage Verticals better

• Communities are a great way for us to managed different users & verticals on G+.

• This way you can deliver relevant vertical content & enable users to have discussions between themselves.

• Communities will enable you to hear what our users want, need or upset about.

• This also can help you to conduct surveys, test for new features etc.

• You should also partake in other community discussions in order to build reputation as an authority.

• It is important to have few moderators in each community to lower the work load from ourselves.

Recommendations

Engage with the Right People & Influencers

• Who you surround yourself with is very important on Google+ , as Google algorithm will reward you if your surrounding

include influencers.

• You should follow high authority people and influencers that are relevant to your scope of action, with lots of followers

and activity on G+. More importantly… you need them to follow you back!

• Write posts that promote discussions and try to make sure influencers are involved in these conversations by +mention

them in the posts, so they have no choice but to respond.

• Engage with them on posts they publish and also re-share relevant & great content they publish on your G+ page.

• The goal is to get influencers to re-share your content because that will cause a ripple effect & will improve your

appearances on search results.

Recommendations

Tools for G+ Analysis

• http://www.allmyplus.com/

• http://www.circlecount.com/

• http://www.gplusdata.com/

Recommendations

Eitan Helman

eitan.helman@gmail.com

+ 972 - 54 - 7188817

Eitan Helman Eitan Helman