Google Plus for business continues to gain momentum in the social media universe and it’s important to know how to create the best possible profile. This is especially true if you’re promoting your business.
Below are four steps to improve your Google Plus profile visibility in search engines and make your online profile stand out from the others.
Improve Your Google Plus Profile for Business
1. Create a Strong, Simple Tagline
Taglines need to be strong, yet brief. Remember, the tagline might be the only thing people see, so create one that’s interesting and alluring and gets to the point quickly. Readers scanning websites online won’t likely take the time to read a long, drawn out tagline.
For example, a heating and air conditioning contractor might select a tagline such as, “Offering [your city] the best service and lowest prices. Period.” A restaurant tagline might read, “Best Buffalo wings south of Buffalo.”
The point is, to get to the point quickly and make it easy for readers to grasp what you’re about in an instant.
2. Add a Professional Photo
Photography Photo via Shutterstock
A grainy, out of focus or unprofessional looking photo is an instant turnoff. The photo is your one shot to grab and hook the casual reader who’s scanning for information. It’s best to invest in a professional photographer to get a clean, good-looking shot.
Many businesses add photos of their owner or staff standing around smiling. This is fine, and adds a personal touch. But action shots paint a more alluring picture and draw in readers. Consider a photo of your best chef working over an open flame, or one of your contractors hard at work performing his craft.
Give readers an instant visual image of your business in action.
3. Be Sure Your Website is Linked
Add a Link Photo via Shutterstock
Always link up your Google Plus account to your website and post all of your articles or blog posts to Google Plus. Make sure to select “public” for all posts, so they’ll be visible to everyone. Posting regularly is also important. Google rates pages higher when they’re frequently updated with quality information.
Which brings us to another point: Only post quality content and only link to quality content on Google Plus or any other social media networking site.
Google and other search engines are working hard to promote excellent content in their search results and severely punish poorly written or spammy content.
If you’re going to post, make sure it’s content that’s valuable to readers.
4. Adjust Your Visibility Setting
Reveal Yourself Photo via Shutterstock
One of the things that attracts users to Google Plus can actually be a downside to business. Google Plus more emphasis on protecting personal privacy than Facebook and some of the other social networking sites. The defaults are private and you have to manually set them as public.
To make your Google Plus profile visible, go to the “about” section and select “profile discovery.” Then, make sure “visible” is selected. When you set up a Google Plus profile, “visible” is not automatic, so you have to do this before your profile is publicly seen.
Once you make these four easy changes to your Google Plus profile, you’ll soon see better local search engine rankings and enjoy more action on your site.
Great Google+ tips, Timothy.
I like G+ a lot, but there has to be a way for me to put it more, “top of mind” on a daily basis.
I’m not sure what’s missing for me-for some of us, but something is.
The Franchise King®
Martin Lindeskog
Joel: I say the same thing. Google+ is not on my mind like for example Twitter. I bet Google has an idea how to “drag” us into the daily habit of using Google+ in the future… 😉
I like to use Google+’s bookmarking tool, +1 for saving interesting stuff.
My guess is that Google+’s conference tool, Hangout, will be the main feature in the future.
Ti Roberts
Awesome Google+ tips. With all the new changes and features Google+ has available, I’ve yet had to time to update my profile. I appreciate you detailing the how to make improvements.
Ti
Google+ is still evolving and I continue to learn more about the ways it can be utilized.
Now Google plus is an important part of any business, because it affects search results, I heard that if you are using authorship and you are not active on Google plus then Google may remove your authorship.
Francesca
Great article! Thanks Timothy.
Problem on #4 though – I can’t find “profile discovery” anywhere.
I’ve clicked: Profile – About, but see no “Visible” option anywhere.
Any help?
Thanks,
~Francesca
G+ is a powerful platform to be in. This post alone tells you why – but there’s more to it than just this. There is search plus your world – which has not completely rolled out. But if it does, it will change search as we know it – implementing a huge social impact to the search activity.
Regards
Paul
Aqib Shahzad
Goolge Plus is now really important these days. If we have Google Authorship and we are not active on Google community then it will surely effect our search engine ranks and there are more chances that your Google Authorship to be removed.