Photo by west.m
Hang tight, it looks like Google+’s business pages, also known as Plus Pages, are on their way in November. I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to see what is offered for companies and brands with a Google+ page. Last week, I discussed my skepticism of Google+ becoming a threat to Facebook, but I could see the addition of business pages, especially with key features (and SEO) that Facebook may not offer with their pages, being a new weapon in Google+’s arsenal.
Since it is Google we’re talking about here, business pages on Google+ may have some major SEO benefits over Facebook. I believe once they are offered, it will be vital for businesses to create pages, but not just on that factor alone. With 43.3 million users already on board and more joining daily, there will be a big audience there for companies and brands.
Here are a couple of things (from Samantha Hosenkamp at PR Daily) that business’ will be able to do with a page on Google+:
- SEO for your brand – Alisa Leonard of iCrossing shared at an event that “Google’s algorithm treats the links shared in Google+ as “highly indexable,” meaning that Google looks very favorably upon Google+ content in search.” Having a page for your PR company, business, client, self, etc., means better SEO, which also makes it easier for people to find you.
- Edit Circles as a page – Something you can already do with your personal Google+ account, pages will be able to break up their audience into circles and deliver specific messages to a specific audience. I could see this being great for brands with multiple targeted audiences. For example, a homebuilder using a Google+ page could make a circle for Realtors, providing information on the housing market, about their Realtor program or promotions offered without those messages being crossed over to a circle of potential homebuyers. A circle for homebuyers could showcase more information about the homebuilder’s homes, what homes are available, features in each home, etc. A circle could also be for their current homebuyers to keep that circle up-to-date with things going on with the homebuilder as well as place for the homebuyer to connect socially with the homebuilder. Another circle could be industry partners so a homebuilder can connect with those partners in the industry and share builder news and so on… (I could really go on forever with this.)
Here is a longer list from PCWorld of the possible capabilities of Google+ pages. Either way, I may retract my thoughts on Google+ not becoming a threat to Facebook with the launch of business pages and it will be interesting to see what happens when they roll out in November. Again, we’ll just have to wait and see, but it’s always fun to discuss so share your thoughts on Google+ pages below.
What do you think about the addition of business pages to Google+? Do you think business pages could +1 Google over Facebook?
(Agency Entourage will continually monitor all news of Google+ business page changes so be sure to follow us on Twitter and join us on Facebook.)
