Google + business page, activity and local serps

[mugatea]

I was helping a dog walker working in a competitive town. You know how if you search locally you will get the listings plus a map displaying local businesses? She didnt rank great on a local search but did get a mid table letter for the map listing and also had a lower mid page listing for her website. One day she asked all her facebook friends to like her Google + business page and then BAM she got the 'A' map listing spot on local search results. She now resides at 'B'.

So was it the sudden influx of likes that threw her to the top? Is social interaction on g+ a factor in serps?

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Yes. local social interaction is a factor. Google is mapping the social web just as it maps the normal web (if there is a distinction). They are looking for authorities within the social community to promote.

 

[a1exn1987]

What OldWelshGuy said.

Local search is favourable for a local business, obviously, so it's actually much more valuable - especially in a local area.

A good tip, if you'd like to try and get better search engine performance locally, is to submit listings of the business to local directories and any niche dog walking directories that might be available.

 

[mugatea]

What OldWelshGuy said.

A good tip, if you'd like to try and get better search engine performance locally, is to submit listings of the business to local directories and any niche dog walking directories that might be available.

Is that still a good idea nowadays?

Anyway, if getting people to like her Google+ page helped does the same apply for other social networks like facebook and twitter?

 

[OldWelshGuy]

yes

 

[SolutionLab]

There would be two factors at hand.

The social links matter, a lot, particulalry on Google+ because some of the links there are dofollow but the velocity of the spike probably added to it significantly.

What I mean is, all things being equal, a website A that has the same links as a website B will have lower rankings if website B is gaining those links really fast but will equalize in time if they both remain static (ie - no more new links) so I wouldn't assume the job is done.

You can do more with a Google Places listing, tweaking the website a bit to have the location in the page title and anchor text of internal links as well as creating a bit of content (ideally something funny that can spread a bit on Google+ or Facebook) so that maybe you can get more social links.

Dogs are great for viral stuff and it's not hard to do, just download a trial of Adobe Illustrator and find some cute pictures of dogs.

Also, that would help her in the long-term to build a network of contacts to get business from. Google is great but the best thing for her might just be a pool of people who can reference her to their friends - sort of like real-life SEO.

 

[seowise]

I think the answer lies in the nature of Google Local and Google+ relationship, the two are tight.
I doubt you would have gotten the same effect if all those people tweeted the page or something.
But on Google Local, if you want to leave a Google review, you can do it only with your G+ account.
Apparently, any G+ signal is a strong one, not only a rating or a review. Maybe those were counted as ratings

It's a great finding actually, Mugatea!

 

[SolutionLab]

I think the answer lies in the nature of Google Local and Google+ relationship, the two are tight.
I doubt you would have gotten the same effect if all those people tweeted the page or something.
But on Google Local, if you want to leave a Google review, you can do it only with your G+ account.
Apparently, any G+ signal is a strong one, not only a rating or a review. Maybe those were counted as ratings

It's a great finding actually, Mugatea!

Google+ has some dofollow value, which adds to the effect

 

[seowise]

Google+ has some dofollow value, which adds to the effect

Yeah, I know. But I suspect Google is aware of that particular loophole, since they are the ones who created it in the first place.

 

[UKSBD]

So was it the sudden influx of likes that threw her to the top? Is social interaction on g+ a factor in serps?

Matt Cutts says that Likes, Shares and +1's are not used as ranking factors.
It is the other actions that may have an effect.
i.e.
It's not the actual action of Liking or +1'ing that make any difference more the overall interaction and behaviour.

 

[SolutionLab]

Yeah, I know. But I suspect Google is aware of that particular loophole, since they are the ones who created it in the first place.

Yes and no. Most websites that rely on network effects and content (YouTube, Pinterest etc) had dofollow long after 2005 because it meant a lot of people like us would give them a lot of content but as they grow quality trumps quantity and they change it to nofollow. Since Google+ still has issues getting people to be engaged on the network, the content brought by dofollow is still useful so they would probably still count it on search at facevalue. Hey, visua.ly is still doing it.


Also, if anybody reading this is wondering what this is about, just google "moz nofollow" or "moz google plus".

 

[a1exn1987]

Is that still a good idea nowadays?

Yes, but be careful to use legitimate directories as there are many spammy link farm places that call themselves directories and really aren't useful at all.

Legitimate local directories and business hubs are still valuable.