I read a Tweet last night that made me laugh. Someone compared Google+ to the gym – everyone’s a member, but almost nobody goes there.
That may, or may not change, but it’s still worth using Google’s new social network to promote your blog – because the network is the best one in town, in terms of SEO. Which means a good page on Google Plus, promoting your blog, could deliver a big boost in your SEO, and potentially your Google Page Rank. Interested? Read on to find out more…
Twitter posts are public on Google, but they’re only 140 characters, so are of limited use in an SEO strategy. And Facebook currently only lets Google return search results from fan pages, not profiles.
On Google Plus, every single post is searched and indexed by Google – meaning your posts will be listed in Google’s search results. And early results suggest Google Plus profiles tend to rank higher than Facebook and Twitter profiles.
So, this weekend I created a Google Plus page for Who’s the Mummy (click here to see the results of my handiwork). If you fancy doing the same for your blog, here’s how:
Step 1
Log into Google Plus and in the right hand sidebar, click the option for ‘create Google+ page’ or go straight to this page: http://plus.google.com/pages/create
Step 2
Choose a category for your Google Plus page – a brand is probably a good option for a blog page. Add in the name and URL of your blog. Make the page publicly available for maximum visibility – you want people to be able to find you!
Step 3
Hit the ‘create’ button and Google will create your page, and log you into Google Plus as your blog. Your first step is to create a public profile photo for your blog – you can use the ‘custom links’ to connect your page to your Twitter, Facebook and other social media accounts.
Step 4
When someone visits your blog page on Google + they will see a page with your first 5 ‘scrapbook’ photos across the top of the page. Be creative with these – you can use the new Picnik image editing tools in Google Plus to make them look great, and give people a real feel for what your blog is about.
Step 5
Get the word out by sharing the page on Google+ and downloading the code to add a Google Plus badge to your blog sidebar – we have a great tutorial on adding your Google Plus profile to your blog written by Alex. This is important because when you create a blog brand page on Google Plus you can’t add people to your circle – they need to add you. Harder work – but much less spammy.
Step 6
Finally, start adding content to your blog. Remember to share your blog posts, but also consider adding +1 buttons to the end of your blog posts, and making it easier for people to share your content on the network. Once you’ve created a page, please come back and share your links with us, so we can add you to our circles!
About Sally
Sally Whittle is founder of the Tots100, Foodies100, BlogSummit and the MAD Blog Awards. When she's not working, she can be found blogging at Who's the Mummy, or having fun with her 7 year old daughter, Flea.
I’ve created my page but i admit its taking some getting used too! https://plus.google.com/b/101430480041032262331/#
It’s a new thing to get used to, isn’t it?
Hi, I created my page today after hearing the benefits at Blogcamp. I had already been posting y blog posts to my personal profile.
Anywhoo, here it is; https://plus.google.com/101765006101059370539/posts
xx
Glad to hear BlogCamp inspired you.
Thanks for this post! I’m not sure if I’ve done it right – I have followed these instructions but my technical mind is so challenged it wouldn’t surprise me if I’ve made a cock up somewhere along the line. However, my page is here:-
https://plus.google.com/b/114430331510163378364/
Whoop! well done!
Problem with all of this, is that I have been a googe user for ever, and have 3 different accounts with different things on each of them so the whole thing is turning in to a bloody mess. Anyone know if you can consolidate accounts…. I mean more than just emails, i need to consolidate all of googles offerings. I am tempted just to start again…. sigh.
I’ve considered doing something similar as Google makes it impossible to consolidate and I have 3 Gmail accounts for different things plus four YouTube log-ins. Nightmare.
I already have a G+ profile and page and finding it difficult to find out what the difference is (if any). Why can’t I use my personal profile to promote my (personal) blog on rather than have to wait for someone to add themselves (follow) on my page for it to just become another place to update and interact on.
Posting updates to a page isn’t easy at the moment and no widgets allow streaming feeds but they do for “profiles”. Are the SEO prospects higher on a page or similar when compared with a personal profile.
I think for me I just like a bit of separation between personal and professional, but I’m not sure there’s a difference apart from that. Are there things you can do on a page you can’t on a profile? Must look into it. I know you can have multiple people admin a page – which is great for me and the business sites obv.
Totally – but, as you mentioned, I’m coming at it from a “hobby” (haha) point of view with less need for a business head and leaning more towards “sharing with friends”.
I have been sent a few links about the difference between a profile and a page – I can see the benefits on Facebook but can’t, for the life of me, translate that to G+.
Even if you don’t go to BlogCamp, BlogCamp comes to you!! As this is all you guys have been talking about in the past two days, i did as instructed and made a page: https://plus.google.com/114062337459018058401
*mutters* slavedriver!
*cracks whip a bit harder*
Honestly I won’t do this. I don’t have a Facebook page for my blog either. I’m not a brand and I don’t want to be. Plus I hate G+
*clutches chest in horror*
I think it’s just a handy way to get more traffic – my Facebook page is amazing for that – interestingly, I get more traffic from Facebook and Twitter than from Google. Now, if I was someone concerned about losing Google rank because of paid content, I think that’s an interesting little nugget of info right there.
But equally… that’s my inner geek talking. If it doesn’t appeal, then invest the time in something more fun!
ok I think I’ve done it…thanks for sharing this, I might actually use Google+ more now…once I figure it out!
https://plus.google.com/b/101532231036048753571/101532231036048753571/
Ok i think i’ve got my head around it and created a google + page!
https://plus.google.com/b/100126405809377324560/
Done https://plus.google.com/b/115353552679735061999/ do you know if there’s a way to get it to auto post my blog posts to Google+ like it does to Twitter and FB? Takes some getting used to this Google+, not as intuitive as FB…
I’m on blogger and mine autoposts to personal page – haven’t tried it since I created page though!
I have had so much trouble trying to get my blogger posts to auto post to my fb page; that I have given up. I tried setting up Networkedblogs; but it wanted me (personally) to identify myself as author of the blog. I blog semi anonymously so didn’t want to. And it wouldn’t let me do it otherwise.
Does anyone know how to manage these accounts totally separate from personal accounts? Both facebook and the google+ . And auto post to just the blog related page, not personal account???
It is this problem that is putting me off google+.
Have created one, now need to remember to use it!
https://plus.google.com/104090415795987047173/
I’ve done my page too – https://plus.google.com/b/111362320122524796689/111362320122524796689/about
Don’t really understand the following difference bit betwwen page and personal – don’t totally get it and not sure page is great yet. I was sharing posts on my personal page already.
well I have made a start… Have found it quite difficult to get past the initial flurry of likers on Facebook and grow the numbers, I wonder whether this will be the same? Finding the time toactively engage on all platforms is not easy!!
Here’s my google+ page
https://plus.google.com/109918817809800205195
This is mine https://plus.google.com/111758573474500410664
Wow just took me 5 minutes to find my page when I was on my personal lol.
Thanks for sharing this, I had set up a personal page already but wasn’t comortable about the association between that and my blog as trying to stay fairly anonymous!
Here’s mine – I think I’ve done it right…
https://plus.google.com/103133088150601622489/posts
There is an option for ‘blog’ under the arts and entertainment section, if that helps anyone.
This is mine if I did it right!!
https://plus.google.com/117295443877975320263/posts
This is mine
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/105748132322079154710/105748132322079154710/posts
Yep, I cancelled my gym membership for exactly that reason, so now I have to focus on my google + page before my blog becomes a flabby, demotivated overconsumer!
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/103896829917183126847/