Google Plus launched in 2011, and since then it has grown rapidly to become the second largest social network behind Facebook. However, many companies still fail to take advantage of it, sometimes because they are confused as to why they should want a presence on yet another social network. However, dismissing Google Plus is a bad idea for any businesses that want to increase their online visibility.

Google Plus is Big – and Getting Bigger

Despite arriving much later on the scene than Facebook, Google Plus already sees over a billion page visits a month, and boasts over half a billion active users each month. Those numbers simply cannot be ignored by businesses with an interest in online marketing. Although Facebook is still the king of social, Google Plus is not that far behind, and it is continuing to grow.

Boost Your Search Engine Visibility

Google Plus is the best social network for SEO. It is far more SEO focused than other social networks like Facebook and Twitter, which both prevent Google accessing all of their information. With Google Plus, your activity can be used in the search algorithms to provide Google with more information to determine where your website should appear in the search results.

Buttons like the Facebook 'Like' button, the Twitter 'Retweet' button and the +1 button are good indicators of a page's popularity because they indicate what real people genuinely find interesting. However, recent studies suggest that the Google Plus +1 button has an even greater influence over search rankings.

Google Plus posts are also crawled very quickly, and they have a URL and title tag, meaning they are more SEO friendly than posts on other social networks. They can also have PageRank like any other pages, so your most popular posts could end up ranking in the search engines.

Link Third-Party Content to Your Google Plus Account

When you write for sites other than your own, such as when you write a guest post, you can link this content to your Google Plus account. When the page appears in the search engines, your photo will then appear next to it, helping to boost your visibility and build your brand.

Get Access to More Customers

By having a presence on Google Plus, you may be able to get your business in front of new people. By sharing useful content and commenting on content that you find, you can increase engagement with users and increase your brand awareness.

How to Build Your Presence on Google Plus

If you have been unsure whether to launch a presence on Google Plus, now is the time to get started. Simply join up, fill out your details and start to follow other users, comment on their content, and then post your own content.

Online marketing specialists like Yodle encourage businesses to get involved and make sure they have a presence, and to then start slowly building up their activity as they become more familiar with the site. Soon you will find that your content is attracting shares and links, and you will be on your way to increasing your visibility online.

Get Onto Google Plus

If you have a presence online, signing up to Google Plus should be something you strongly consider. With all of the advantages that it provides, it is not just another social network that will waste your time, but should be considered right up alongside Facebook and Twitter. So sign up for it today and start to improve your online visibility.

Author Bio
Julie Bonds is a marketing whiz on social media. With research and experience under her belt, she greatly enjoys blogging about basic ways to make social media work for today's business world.