In this article, we are going to take a look at what the guys at Bowler Hat did in order to test whether the +1 button of Google+ has any effect on Google as a search ranking factor.
If we think about it, Google’s biggest asset is their search engine. However, they always want to increase their reach to new potential users. If there are 2 other big platforms where users spend long time online, those are Facebook and Twitter; the biggest social media platforms. What can Google do about this? Compete with them by creating its own, Google+.
The issue with Google+ was very simple, nobody needs it. There is no gap in the market for this platform, as they are not offering anything that was not offer before by Facebook and Twitter. It is not a remarkable product, so people don’t use it. Google got very angry at this and decided that they would reward Google+ users. How? By improving your search engine rankings.
In this experiment by Bowler Hat, they measured the Google rankings of different pages for particular keywords before and after having +1s. The result was: https://danielalarcon.com/
Experiment 1: Improvement After +1. From position 5 to 3
Search Query:” the skinny fruit”
URL: www.everydaypaleo.com
Experiment 2: No Improvement After +1
Search Query: Britain best walks”
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/may/02/top10.walkingholidays
Experiment 3: Improvement After +1. From position 6 to 5
Search Query: Hot Dog Sausages”
URL: http://www.bigapplehotdogs.com/
As you can see, the +1 button has a direct positive effect on Google Rankings. However, this improvement varies in each case.
Said this, I would like to highlight that this experiment was carried out in 2012, and on this time Google+ has changed significantly. I would say that the value of a single +1 is very difficult to measure, and Google makes it a lot more complex than just a +1 to push your rankings 2-3 positions. However, without a doubt, Google+ has a very important effect on Google rankings that needs to be taken into account when considering your SEO strategy.
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