Google Hummingbird: Using Google+ for SEO

Oct 18 2013

You may have read Greg’s Hummingbird blog post, which gives recommendations for updating your SEO and content strategies to keep up with the new algorithm.

It appears that one of Google’s strategic goals in the design of its Hummingbird launch was to build the popularity of Google+ by increasing:

the number of Google+ accounts
the popularity of communities and hangouts
the frequency of engagement (+1s and comments), and
the quantity and quality of content posts.

For each change instituted by the new Google algorithm, they’ve built in a way to improve your SEO using Google+:

Hummingbird Change	What you should do in Google+
It’s time to face it: Google algorithms are going to continue to change	Build a well-rounded portfolio of ways to build search rankings. Google has made it clear that Google+ will continue to be a powerful SEO tool in that portfolio.
Shift toward mobile search	Share your content on Google+ with mobile search in mind. Queries on mobile devices tend to be more long and complex.Both mobile queries and Google+ are expected to be “at the core of search user experience in the future.”
Conversational, cross-platform search	People are no longer searching for a specific keyword; they are more likely to ask a question. Your content should both ask and answer those questions.Give your audience the content they are looking for, in a place where Google will find and use it.
Added social layer to the search algorithm	Google+ is now a core, fundamental aspect of Google SEO. How to build SEO using Google+: Build a Google+ audience and engage Integrate Google+ into your other properties, such as your website or blog and social channels Join Google+ communities Answer questions Use hashtags Create quality content with links to your website, and promote it well on Google+ Create video content in Hangouts Build a strategy to get more +1s and Google+ promotion from your employees, partners and customers