Is Google+ Dead?

[Vasil A]

We're creating a detailed marketing plan for our company. We want to include all Social Media channels that are worth it investing time, efforts & money. So far, our translation agency is 100% going to invest on Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter because these three networks are used by our potential clients.
What do you think about Google+? Many people have profiles there just because they have Gmail account, but do you think people actually use their G+ profiles?
And one last question, do you think having a "strong" presence on G+ can help your verified website rank higher on Google's SERP?

 

[Richard Ashton]

i think this really depends on were your customers are based, in the UK Google+ as you say isn't popular at all and people just have profiles because they have Gmail accounts, if you have customers in the US then i wouldn't neglect Google+.

 

[Richard Ashton]

So to really answer your question, in my opinion yes its dead but its undead in certain countries.

 

[webgeek]

If you're a marketer, looking to solicit business from other marketers, then by all means use G+.

If you're a human who isn't a marketing professional, then the slim SEO benefits it gives make it worthless from an SEO perspective.

Social media validation and engagement, plus brand exposure/building campaigns, are going to get the best ROI on Twitter/Facebook, in most situations (recruiters are the exception, as LinkedIn is where they'll be found).

That said, few brands are going to get anywhere near the same ROI from social media that they'll get from lead capture/nurturing using email or better yet, PPC or organic SEO.

"Doing" social media because others are, is a great way to throw your client money away instead of leveraging it to make them profitable, which is what you could be doing with their organic SEO, PPC and email campaigning.

Best advice I have for you is to stop trying to strafe every possible place where a potential client might be found and instead focus your energies on one channel at a time. After all, the idea is to make a remarkable impression, not be a mere fart in the wind.

 

[fisicx]

So far, our translation agency is 100% going to invest on Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter because these three networks are used by our potential clients.

How are they used by your potential clients? I'd put money on them using google and referrals to find services not social media sites. But if you want to fritter your money away on a facebook page that's up to you.

Consider this, you wanted advice on using SM and Google plus. How did you find this forum? Did you search Facebook or did you use Google?

 

[Paralabs]

Despite the fact that many consider Google+ dead, the presence in this social network can give you a positive rating in Google.

 

[Vasil A]

How did you find this forum? Did you search Facebook or did you use Google?

A friend of mine told me about it.

 

[Vasil A]

Despite the fact that many consider Google+ dead, the presence in this social network can give you a positive rating in Google.

I do believe Google rewards companies who use their Social Media frequently.

 

[fisicx]

A friend of mine told me about it.

So it wasn't through a social media site, it was a referral. Which will be the same for your potential clients. If they want a translator they won't head for a social media site to do their research. Or if they do it will be to ask a question. One of their followers may recommend you because they already use your services not because you tweet three times a day or whatever.

I do believe Google rewards companies who use their Social Media frequently.

No they don't. They may reward companies that engage, interact and contribute to the benefit of others. They don't reward companies that post on their own social media feeds or chase likes or whatever.

 

[boring-friday]

I do believe Google rewards companies who use their Social Media frequently.

No they don't mate, please stop this

 

[Vasil A]

No they don't mate, please stop this

Nobody knows for sure (except Google).

 

[fisicx]

Many people do know for sure. And they know posting on SM sites will not help your ranking.

 

[ChrisGoodfellow]

We've struggled to get a decent level of traction/ traffic from our Google+ page in spite of a regular flow of people signing up. For me, it comes down to a question of where your customers are and the level of resources you have to commit to the project. I'd rather do two/ three social sites well than have five where two were underperforming and wasting time.

No idea on the SEO benefit!

 

[boring-friday]

Nobody knows for sure (except Google).

I do because I've tested buying a load of shares or shares from active accounts. Might move you from 77th to 74th on a easy keyword but thats about it.
Not worth any time/money

 

[Digital Resellers]

If part of your strategy is SEO than I would recommend having a google+ account this will assist with SEO.

 

[fisicx]

How will it assist with SEO? All the evidence suggests otherwise.

 

[Digital Resellers]

Great question and always happy to help out a fellow digital guru.

It all comes back to Google, we all understand there are many facets to the Google algorithm some we only know a little about. The social aspect of the algorithm is obviously broken into platform acknowledgement. Now if we look at those social platforms which one does Google own?

Simply acknowledging this adds weight to why you should at the least have this included in your SEO strategy with the added benefit of a high authority link.

However all digital agencies will do SEO strategies slightly differently this discussion is a great way of highlighting this.

 

[fisicx]

Google+ links are all no-follow. So if there is a ranking benefit it's going to be tiny compared to most of the other ranking signals.

If you post regularly and have lots of engagement and discussion then Google might take notice, but the effort required is far greater than any ranking or even traffic benefits.

So it's probably not worth bothering with.

 

[Paralabs]

I do believe Google rewards companies who use their Social Media frequently.

This is certainly true, although officially it has not been stated.

 

[justinaldridge]

I think everyone is missing the fact that Google+ is for individuals and Google+ Pages is for businesses and is managed through Google My Business.

Every business should have have a GMB listing (it's free after all) and updating the associated Google+ Page can help to make the business listing rank better. I've not seen any benefit for improved organic rankings but it does help for improving rankings in local and business results.

 

[Digital Resellers]

Your right Fisicx the effort will out weigh the reward. I guess it just comes down to the companies industry and if that acknowledgment or little tick google give you for using their social platform will benefit your SEO against your competitors.

 

[Vasil A]

This is certainly true, although officially it has not been stated.

Google will probably never admit it officially, but it makes sense to me.

 

[vanleasing]

Google Plus may be dead in an interaction kind of way (not popular) but for SEO it's very helpful, a Google product is always going to be helpful for SEO

 

[Paralabs]

Google will probably never admit it officially, but it makes sense to me.

Moreover, it is possible, this is not officially declared to avoid manipulation of this fact.

 

[Philipp Yurkovski]

What do you think about Google+?

I think Google+ is dead. I tried to market through my profile so many times but in vain. FB and Twitter work much better.

 

[Alan]

I think this thread is dead and you just reopened a 10 month old thread. Take care or you will get banned!

 

[Philipp Yurkovski]

Dear Alan, sorry for old thread revival (I missed the date of publishing.) Next time I will have look at the date first. I'm a newcomer to UK forums.
All the same, if somebody ever looks for online free software, I will recommend Promt (google it)
It's much more relevant than Google Translate.

 

[Ashley_Price]

Oops! Didn't realise out of date thread.

 

[Ashley_Price]

Dear Alan, sorry for old thread revival (I missed the date of publishing.) Next time I will have look at the date first. I'm a newcomer to UK forums.

Don't worry about it, Philipp! I've been on here since 2008 and still make the same mistake... as I did above until I saw the response to your post and deleted mine.

 

[Scott Heron]

Its a bit of a graveyeard these days but depending on your niche/industry there may be a pocket of active users there that you could mingle with.

 

[tukhnet]

Almost nobody uses it, so it's almost dead.

 

[Pat Walsh]

I don't think Google My Business works for every business - for example, I'm an IT service provider and work with lots of different clients in London, mostly onsite and sometimes from my own home office.
Google My Business wouldn't really work for me as my home office is not in London and GMB is based more on the physical location you work from - so more suited to a business with an office or shop, rather than a roving consultant / service provider.

 

[Erminoli]

Was Google+ alive at some point?

 

[PropertyWebmasters]

It is dead because it is possibly the least used social media platform out there (depending on your industry and where you are located).

However, Google does want people to use their tools, so having a verified Google+ account there can help just maintain your SEO. Also Google Maps is linked to your Google + page so if you need to make any adjustments to your Google map listing (which is good for local SEO), this is easier to achieve with a verified Google+ listing.

I would suggest creating a Google+ profile and making sure it is all up to date and verified and concentrate on other social platforms, and perhaps posting on Google+ on occasion if necessary.

 

[Alan]

Google + also has a few other benefits that are not offered (as far as I know ) by other social media platforms

You can create 'communities' - ok you can create 'groups' in facebook & linked in BUT If your business is a G Suite business - you can create 'closed' communities just for your organisation, there closed communities allow you to create company wide information sharing with of course the power of Google Search - and knowing the data is yours.

You can create personal collections - this is really useful as a pseudo bookmarking tool - I have collections for each programming language I work in, each time I find something useful in blog I just add it to my collection - knowing that I can search for it using the power of Google search

As a social media platform, it hasn't the momentum, but as a useful knowledge store it has its uses.

 

[Jeff FV]

I don't know about Google +, but I thought this thread had died a loooong time ago.

 

[natalieporter]

I think it depends on your customers. But G+ isn't dead. My company has also the profile on G+. Moreover, social media channels are now very crowded.

 

[EC1 Solutions]

Totally agree with Justin and dont forget Google+ reviews, and verified business photos (to help with Local SEO)

I think everyone is missing the fact that Google+ is for individuals and Google+ Pages is for businesses and is managed through Google My Business.

Every business should have have a GMB listing (it's free after all) and updating the associated Google+ Page can help to make the business listing rank better. I've not seen any benefit for improved organic rankings but it does help for improving rankings in local and business results.

 

[Chris Needham]

It's dead. Google even admitted it, when the person who was supposed to fix google plus quit. By all means, have it but it should in no way be a priority.