Plus Your World Update

Last Tuesday, Google announced a change to how it displays search results. This change is called “Search, Plus Your World,” and it’s attempting to further personalize search results for users. Google has been taking user preference into account when displaying search results for a long time now; believing a site a user has visited previously is more useful to that user than a completely unknown site. How Search, Plus Your World differs from Google’s previous algorithm is it displays relevant results from users in your circles on Google+ at the top of the page.

In the wake of this update, it’s obvious that Google+ just became a lot more important for SEO. Does this mean that Facebook and Twitter have become obsolete? Are you wasting your time using other social media sites, when relevant conversations on Google+ are being sent to the top of search results by default? The answer is a resounding “NO!”

Search Engines Factor in All Social Signals

Even though Google actively promotes terms and phrases used in Google+ posts, it still uses Facebook Likes, Tweets and other social signals when calculating search rankings. What this means is while spending more time building relationships on Google+ is a good idea, abandoning Facebook and Twitter is not. If anything, you should increase the time spent using Google+, and continue using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social sites as normal. It’s true that Google+ is very likely going to become more important for SEO as time goes on, but its importance won’t eclipse the value of every other social media outlet.

Don’t Forget Your User Base

Forget about the indirect benefit of Facebook Likes, Tweets and other social signals for a second. The real benefit of having a strong social presence is connecting with the people who use these sites. Social sites are enormously popular, and present a perfect opportunity to build new relationships, interact with your users and promote your brand. In addition to providing a popular platform for building valuable professional relationships, all social sites have an impact on search results. Social media is here to stay, and the benefit you gain social interactions with real, human users will outweigh any indirect benefit you gain from having your site show up in search results thanks to Search, Plus Your World.

Search, Plus Your World Isn’t a Sure Thing

There’s already been a huge privacy backlash against Google’s recent search update. In addition, Search, Plus Your World only works if users are have an account, and are logged in. On top of that, these search results are easy enough to deactivate. Google updates and changes its algorithm constantly, and hasn’t been afraid to abandon failed projects in the past. Remember Google Knol, Google Buzz, and Google Wave? If you abandon other social outlets in favor of Google+, where will you be if Google decides to discontinue Search, Plus Your World altogether?

This new update definitely affects SEO, but exactly how far-reaching that affect is has yet to be determined. The simple fact that Search, Plus Your World only affects users who have a Google+ account, are signed in and haven’t disabled it should be enough to convince you to maintain your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Focus a bit more on Google+? Sure. Abandon all social media in favor of the possible extra exposure given by Search, Plus Your World? Absolutely not.

This guest post was written by Tyler Moore

Tyler Moore is an SEO and marketing consultant based in Indianapolis, IN. Tyler currently works for DocRaptor, an HTML to PDF API developed by Expected Behavior, a web development team from Indianapolis. DocRaptor converts code to PDF and Excel format with a simple HTTP POST request, and handles stylesheets better than comparable applications.