Optimizing Your Google+ Business Page

Google+ is the future of social in SEO. Failing to have an active, optimized Google+ business page will desperately drain your link juice. If you haven’t set up your business page yet, check out Kristi Hines’s excellent how-to on Social Media Examiner. Once your business page is up and running, there are five actions your team should take (beyond, of course, just having a profile):

A. Connect to your Google+ business page

B. Connect your other social networking profiles to your Google+ profiles

C. Add the sites you have contributed to as an author

D. Make your profiles discoverable in search

E. Apply for Google Authorship

A. Connect to your Google+ Business page

This doesn’t just mean adding the company to their circles (although please, please do that!). Here are the steps:

1. Go to your profile and click the “About” tab
2. Click the blue “Edit profile” tab above your banner/picture
3. Click “Employment” halfway down the “About” section (or “Works at” in the section under your picture – either one is fine)
4. Enter company name and add your title
5. Make sure the privacy option is set to “Public”, then save
6. Click “Work” for email and enter your business email
7. Google will send you an email asking you to verify – follow those instructions

B. Connect your other social networking profiles to your Google+ profile

Some team members may not want to connect every profile. If this is the case, lobby for connecting at least their Twitter accounts.

1. Go to your profile and click the “About” tab
2. Click the blue “Edit profile” tab above your banner/picture
3. Click the “Other profiles” option
4. Add your Twitter handle and below that, the URL
5. Go down the line for other profiles you’d like to add. You may have to choose “Add custom link” for less popular sites like Quora.
6. Make sure the privacy option is set to “Public”, then save

The end result will look like this:

C. Add the sites to which you have contributed as an author

1. Go to your profile and click the “About” tab
2. Click the blue “Edit profile” tab above your banner/picture
3. Click the “Contributor to” option
4. Just like the social profiles above, enter the name as you want it to be seen, then add the URL below (you’ll have to choose “Add custom link” for each additional entry)
5. Make sure the privacy option is set to “Public”, then save

The end result will look like this:

D. Make your profile discoverable in search

1. Go to your profile and click the “About” tab
2. Click the blue “Edit profile” tab above your banner/picture
3. Click the “Profile discovery” option
4. Check the box that says “Help others discover my profile in search results” and save

It will now read “Profile visible in search”

E. Apply for Google Authorship

1. Make sure your Google+ profile picture is a recognizable, somewhat close-up headshot (here’s mine for reference):
2. Make sure the byline on all of your content appears exactly the same way (“by Heather Ferris”)
3. Make sure your byline name matches your Google+ profile name
4. Verify your business email address here
5. If you have the option of using an email address attached to the domain of another site you post on, add that one as well
6. If you have your own site, or a site operated by a webmaster who will add your authorship, follow the Option 2 instructions here (make sure these sites have been added to the “Contributor to” section of your Google+ profile in step C above)

I know it can be hard to use Google+ in a constant capacity, but it will be helpful to you and your business if your team members can be somewhat active. Share and +1 your company’s posts, share the company Google+ page with their circles, add to the community discussions, etc. The more action you have on Google+, the better.