The Exaggerated Demise of Google Plus

In 2012, Google made the creation of a Google+ account mandatory for all new users of Gmail, YouTube, AdWords, and most other Google services.  The decision was controversial at the time, seen by many users as a nuisance, and it has resulted in Google+ being perceived as a Ghost Town; a community of empty accounts from users who never wanted to sign up for the social network in the first place.

Well, good news: Google+ is no longer mandatory.  Early last month, Google reversed its decision, appeasing disgruntled users, but inadvertently fueling speculation of the social network’s demise.  Speculation really started back in April, when the “father of Google+”, Vic Gundotra, stepped down after eight years with the company.  In addition to ending the mandatory integration of Google+ for new Google users, over the Summer, Google made one of the more popular products to come from Google+, Google Hangouts, available to App users as well.

Clearly, Google is making some big changes to Google+ and its unique products.  However, I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say this indicates the disassembly of Google+ as a social network.  In fact, there’s a fair amount of evidence suggesting that Google+ is growing in importance for digital marketers, or at least that it is not to be ignored.

Back in September 2013, Google’s Hummingbird update placed more weight on social signals for search rankings, and in SearchMetrics annual SEO ranking factors study, Google +1s were actually the 3^rd highest correlating ranking factor with good rankings, behind just click-through rate and usage of relevant terms.  That’s not to say Google+ is actually more important to a company’s marketing strategy than Facebook or Twitter (which also ranked in the top 10 ranking factors), though.  If you want to engage your audiences where they are, obviously Facebook and Twitter are the best options, but that doesn’t mean Google+ should be ignored completely.

Google has also begun rewarding online marketers for using Google+ with value-adds.  If you are active in Google+ (posting 1-2 times per day), you will see a higher search engine results page click-through rate and richer search listings with snippets, extensions, etc.  From a paid search standpoint, Google has begun including a line that says “__ followers on Google+” within the paid search ads, which has helped increase the click-through rate for those ads by 5-10%.

Let’s face it, Google+ has not been as successful as the company had originally hoped, but that could also be the very reason they chose to change leadership, opting to change the direction of the social network, rather than dismantling it altogether.  I think it also makes business sense to expand the use of Google Hangouts to non-Google+ users.  They’ve found a way to monetize the product with Plus Post Ads (ads promoting live or recent Google Hangouts via the Google Display Network), so why not make it more widely available.  Furthermore, I think the recent decision to do away with mandatory Google+ accounts for new Google users is more of an attempt to move away from the ‘Google Ghost Town’ perception, rather than Google giving up on Google+ all together.  Having a social network of inactive accounts makes Google look bad, so why not let people choose for themselves whether they want to be a part of it?

You don’t have to focus your digital marketing strategy entirely on Google+ to take advantage of its benefits.  I think that ignoring or neglecting the platform at this point would be premature, and frankly, unwise.