Google Plus has been one of the greatest discoveries of my blogging career thus far. I love how regular use of G+ has boosted my website and posts’ visibility. Also, excited about all the wonderful people I have discovered using it. Here are 6 great reasons to love using Google Plus.
1. Google Plus Can Be Great for Building your Traffic from Search Engines. Since I began actively using G+, I have seen a huge uptick in incoming traffic originating from search. In fact, such a surge that search engine is now second only to Pinterest for me.
2. Google + Makes It Easy to Find Other Bloggers (especially in your niche). G+ will actively offer you suggestions in a box on the side of your home feed for others You May Know. Also, many Google Communities are available within G+ to fit your needs. You can easily search the communities by keyword.
A neat aspect of communities is that most encourage you to post relevant materials within the communities so other community members can + and share your work. You in turn can give love to others within the group, in addition to the general feed.
3.Once You Have Found Other Bloggers, G+ Makes It Simple to Put in Your Own Circles. Circles are Google Plus’s version of lists and they are so easy to make and put other G+ users in as you find them and they find you. You can share your posts to just those circles or to the public or both.
4.Google Plus Makes Searching By and Including Hashtags in Posts a Breeze. When you are writing your post and get to your hashtags, you can use the Explore G+ tool to see popular hashtags for that topic. Also, while writing out the hashtag itself, G+ will often pop up its own suggestions.
Additionally, the trending hashtags section, similar to Twitter, under Explore G+ is so enlightening. Also, be sure and check out the What’s Hot section, also under Explore G+. Both of these sections can provide you with great posts to share, pin, etc. . .
5.Tagging the Originating Blogger of a Post That You Comment On or Share Is Seamless. By using the + and starting to type the original poster’s G+ name, the system will predictively bring up name options to use with tag. When right one comes up, just click on. The predictive tagging may not work every time, but it sure does a lot of the time.
6.Good photos are beautifully displayed on Google + Posts. You probably noticed how Pinterest Feed’s can display good, well-formatted photos beautifully. Wait until you see what G+ can do. With correct uploading, photos display large and nearly pop off the page. Definitely drawing the right type of attention.
With Google Plus, there is a small learning curve to get you up and using all that G+ has to offer properly. Knowing how to do things right can make all the difference in your success. I have read many articles about using Google Plus, and still my all time favorite series is Google Plus Basics by Jenny Melrose of The NY Melrose Family. It is the most simple, straightforward and helpful tutorial on Google Plus that I have found. Be sure and check it out!
For my Google + profile.
For more blogging tips, click on over to How to Use Hashtags or Not and 7 Great Sources for Blogging Advice.
You are too sweet! Thank you so much for such a wonderful review of my series. I appreciate it.
I love, love, love it! You are very talented and wonderful at explaining things in ways that are easy to understand.
What a helpful post! I feel like Google Plus is a bit mysterious when it comes to social media, but this information really helped me understand it a bit better. Thanks for sharing (: Visiting from http://www.andieconn.com/kindness-challenge-week-two-give-someone-book-impacted/ and would love a visit back.
I’ve just started getting more intentional with using Google+, mostly because I’ve heard that it really boosts search engine traffic. I like it though too. I personally wish it would become as popular as Facebook. It’s much prettier and easier to read and share too.
Thanks for these tips and I’m going to check out Google Plus Basics!
The ease of use is really so nice with G+. Definitely been great for increasing my search engine traffic.
Thanks for this post! I just joined the #GrowingCirclesHop and will try to make better use of hashtags as you said. 🙂 Following you.
P.S. You don’t have a way to follow by Google on your sidebar that I can see?
Thanks so much for hopping over. Hashtags really are good on G+. You are correct on needing a G+ button on my sidebar. In midst of some redesigns and have to insert. In meantime, went back and included link in my post.
I also think the people are more interactive on google plus. Thanks for sharing these tips Sarah
Absolutely!
Thanks so much, that is so interesting. I have not been actively on G+ for long and this helps me understand its significance. All the best
So glad this information helps you. I hopped on over to your G+ profile and put you in my blogger buddies circle.
As a new blogger it’s hard to know where I should be spending my time. This post gives good info. Thank you!
I remember being overwhelmed where to concentrate on social media. I found that over time 2 outlets (Pinterest and G+ really rose to the top for me). Depending on when people start blogging and their niche audience, seems to determine what is best for them.
Really only learn by experimenting. I learned so much about all aspects of blogging from the SITS Girls site and its resource archive.
Glad to have you in the blogging world.
Awesome! I must admit… I kinda of “hate” google+, mostly because I don’t “get it.” Is it like Facebook or Pinterst?! or both!? haha. But this post has made me want to be intentional about it! Thanks for sharing at Lets Party Link up. But my question for you is, do you use your personal profile for your blog or a business page?? I have found I can schedule with hootsuite only with the business page, but the personal page is much more user friendly. Am I missing something? Thanks so much!
I have not found a good way to schedule to the personal page either. Let me know if you come across one. I do by hand but does not take me long because of ease of use of G+.
I’ve just started using google plus recently, and I am working on using it regularly. Thanks for the post, it makes it seem worthwhile to keep going at it! 🙂
So worthwhile! Just stick with it and keep building your circles.
I LOVE Google Communities!! 🙂
Google Communities are very cool aren’t they.
Thank you so much! I am struggling with G+. I really need to put more time into working on it.
Like some of the other commenters on this post, I haven’t gotten into Google Plus because I haven’t taken the time to truly understand its functionality yet. I also worry that with all the time I spend with Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram (not to mention reading and commenting on individual blogs), I won’t have enough time in the day to learn and apply a whole new social media platform. I will, however, take a look at the Google Plus Basics series you linked to. Thanks for the great info!
I love Google +. I love sharing with different communities. Visiting from SITS.
Thanks so much for the explanation. This newbie blogger has heard people mention Google + repeatedly, but had no clue what it was (admittedly, I still don’t “get” Twitter, so…)
Glad to have you in the blogging world. Sending some Bloglovin your way.
I like G+ to post my posts as well as keep on top of my favorite blog’s new posts. Visiting from the SITS linky!
You are so right. Love how easy it is to scroll down and look at other bloggers posts in the feed.
I really don’t want to manage another social media site but I know I need to get on G+, thanks for reinforcing that for me. Since I have 3 google emails I have lots of G+accounts. Do you suggest merging them (can you even do that)? Or just creating circles using my blog email account? Thanks! P.S. Visiting from SITS Saturday Sharefest
I am not sure if can merge or not, but G+ help should hold the answer. If can’t merge, I would concentrate on one main G+ account for now. Great things with G+ is that it is not quite an intensive as some of the other social media sites. I would say 1 of your posts for every 3 or so other peoples. I often post just every few days and give G+ to people’s posts whenever I can which takes just a click on a button. Have found the time requirements to be so much less.
I will be honest – I totally don’t get Google+. But I have been thinking that it needs to be the next platform I figure out. Thanks for giving me a place to start. I will definitely use your tips and get myself Google+ literate! Thanks!
Yes, Jenny Melrose’s G+ Basics series really cleared so many things up for me in a hurry and after I started using her tips I saw real success on G+. Love you beautiful Goldendoodle. We have a Labradoodle, who is cream color. Love, love, love our wonderful doodle.
Good tips. I’ve become more of a fan of Google+ now that I have a page for my blog. I get a decent amount of traffic from it .
Google+ is amazing – I use it, but not enough. Time to reacquaint myself with it.
I have to admit I am quite clueless when it comes to G+. I do put my posts on it but other than that I don’t pay much attention to it. This was a really helpful and makes me want to spend some more time checking it out.
Great post.
Thanks so much.
Thanks Sarah!
G+ is a platform I know so little about, but I’d noticed that, just by having a profile, even with nothing on it, it was getting views. Now I’m going to head over to Jenny’s series to learn how to make the most of it!
By the way, found this on the By Stephanie Lynn Sunday Showcase link party.
Cheers,
Emma
Thanks so much for swinging by. See you at Sunday Showcase again soon.
Nice tips! I need to start using Google + more actively, I will have to come back to this and read it again! Thanks for sharing!
I need to be more active on Google+. Thanks for the reminder. #TurnUpTuesday
Thanks so much for hopping over.
Wow! This is great information. I knew absolutely about Google+. Thanks for sharing! (Found link at the Do Tell Tuesday party.)
Your very welcome and thanks for hopping over.
Thanks for the tips! I haven’t really tried to “grow” my Google+ following, but I need to. I know I could get a ton of traffic that way, since I already get quite a bit of traffic without even trying! Right now I just +1 all my posts and that is it… I am going to go add you to my circles right now!
Yes, Google Plus has been a great search engine traffic booster.
I’m new to Google+ so I really appreciate the tips! I do have one question though. Is it generally better to share to the Public or in a Group? Most of my posts so far have just been to the public. I have so many similar groups, that I wasn’t sure if it would show duplicate posts in my profile if I share the same post in all of them.
Sharing to public gets most reach, but also can share to select groups. I would just space out the sharing so profile not full of all of same post without other work in between.
I’m gonna be honest, I am not a big fan of Google +! I use it, but not as much as I really should :/
I have gotta get serious about it!
Thanks for all of the info, I’d love for you to join in on Talented Tuesday Link Party! It’s on the blog now! 🙂
Definitely has improved my search engine traffic.
Google+ is one of my favorite social media platforms. I just started using it less than a month ago and initially I didn’t get it. However, after a few uses and connecting with #GrowingCirclesBlogHop it is now a cinch. It is really blogger friendly and people on there are so supportive. #whimsywednesday
Totally agree!
I have not put a lot of time into Google Plus, but as Facebook isn’t really generating uh for me, I need to try something else. Thanks for these points, I’ll give it another look. Thanks for linking up with Turn it Up Tuesday.
I have really found G+ to be worth it and not nearly as time consuming as some other social media.
I have not had much luck with Google+ yet. I will have to read your tips to increase my presence. thanks for sharing in Weekend Wind-Down Party.
You have a ton of good reasons for giving G+ a second chance. I have found it to be hit or miss, but you have inspired me to give it a second chance. Thanks!
There’s been news that Google will be phasing out G+ as it has not taken off like they thought it would 🙁 Have you heard any news?
Just heard today that they will start phasing out. I think though they will do it in a way to migrate current users to new incarnation. I am going to stick with whatever is to come because has been so great for search engine traffic. I am going to keep actively using G+ until the phase out.
Happy to contribute, thanks for hosting every week!
I’m loving this! You always bring such amazing things to our party. Pinned and tweeted. I hope to see you tonight at 7. I can’t wait! Lou Lou Girls
Thanks so much for the kind words. See you again soon.