Top Google Plus Tip of 2012 -Your Picture on Page One of Google in 5 Minutes

2012 has been a ridiculous year for the internet marketing industry. Pinterest has entered the picture as perhaps one of the greatest traffic generating social networks. Bing recently acquired Yahoo’s search engine and will be responsible for powering results both within the Yahoo network and via their own site.  And then there is Google whom has unleashed more algorithm changes over this last nine months than they have employees in Palo Alto, which for those who don’t know, is a lot!

With so much changing within the internet marketing industry and so little time to research and implement new strategies, it is crucial as the owner of a business to work smarter not harder. For this reason we have outlined what we consider the most effective Google+ strategy that you can implement using only 5 precious minutes of your time.

Connect Your Google+ Profile to Your Business Website

Since January of 2012 Google has been returning personalized search results that take into consideration your personal connections on their social network, Google plus. More recently they started returning search results with pictures of people within your social network. As the CEO, you have the ability to link your picture with your company’s website which will be seen in search results.

The search term in the picture above was “San Diego lawyers”. William Simon of San Diego Law Firm did not come up at the top of results. However unlike his competitors, Simon connected his Google+ profile to this business website. As a result people are much more likely to click on his website over his competitors.

Why is this? Well people like to do business with people they know, like, and trust. In his picture William is smiling, wearing a suit, and looks like a trustworthy professional. Therefore people will be more inclined to visit his website first and call William for service before they visit a competitors website. Additionally a photo is a good move for brand recognition should you be the type of CEO who likes to network and show your face and by all means we are guessing you are.

5 Minute Google+ Strategy

Now that you are understand the reasoning and strategy behind connecting your Google+ profile to your website we are ready to walk you through how to do it.

1). Sign into your Google+ profile.

2). Visit the following URL: https://plus.google.com/authorship

3). Provide your business email address that ends with the domain name for which you would like to connect. Example, dino@dinomiteseo.com for the domain dinomiteseo.com  (Google wants to see the match.)

4). Check for a verification email from Google. Once you click the verification link in that email, you’re good to go!

That Was Easy, Now What!?

Normally you can expect it will take 2-6 weeks for your profile picture to begin showing up in Google search results. While you anxiously await for this to happen we suggest you start cranking out as much quality content as possible. Learn about the 8 social SEO strategies. That way Google will have more opportunities to show your smiling mug next to you website when they are ready to.

Please note that currently only one Google+ profile can be connected to a website so be sure to choose the “face” of your website carefully. Also Google only returns photos in their search results if the user is logged into their Google account while they search. Please keep this in mind as you check back to see if your photo is linked with your website.

Should you get hung up at all with any of the steps please feel free to leave us a comment and we will do our best to help you out!

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