3 Ways Google Search is impacted by #SocialMedia & #GooglePlus

Should your business bother with social media, Google Plus and SEO/SMO? Does Google Plus make a difference to Google Search? How do social reviews online change search? If your customers find you by searching on Google, you might want to consider these three points:

Where are the Plumbers WITHOUT a Google Plus Page?

Have a look at this image

The Blue boxes are Ads – if you are paying Google you show up in the first page of search (maybe). The Green boxes are aggregators and directories. Customers click through then see hundreds of competitors. The red box is plumbers with a google plus page and shows them on a map & a telephone number.

You can see Bought Attention, You can see Aggregators, you can see Plumbers with Google Plus Pages – where are the other plumbers? The one’s without a Google Plus page? And do you think a customer looking for a plumber in the Newtown area will bother looking for a non-Google Plus plumber?

What impact do Social reviews have on Google Search & SEO?

Good question:

The Green boxes are aggregators and directories. Customers click through then see hundreds of competitors & restaurants and then have to choose. The red box is restaurants with a google plus page and shows them on a map & a telephone number. And reviews to help you choose between a 3 star and a 4 star favourite.

I searched for restaurant and Cairns but it could be Hairdresser and La Trobe – if there are google reviews and/or a google page, you’ll be found. If not, you won’t (people will have to dig through the yellow pages). Note that the telephone number is in search, so people can choose a restaurant (not necessarily click the first link on the list) and book at your restaurant. Or your competitors ^^

Is your website dead?

Say a friend and I want to see the new Lego movie.. What cinema near us and what time is about all we need to know – buying tickets online costs a few bucks more, so we go on tightarse tuesday and get there early to buy good seats 😛

The Green box is the Cinema actual website, at the bottom. Customers click through if they want to buy tickets online but if they just want time and location why bother? The red box is cinema showing times with address and rating and length of movie and link to the Google map of where the cinema is located. Google has chosen cinemas near where I am located when doing the search. Your results will vary depending where you are.

Do you think that traffic to cinema websites drop dramatically? Or any other business that has opening, closing and other valuable information popping up in Google Search?

People will still be going to websites for transactions at the moment, but transactional APIs are becoming more common, and Google is heartbeat away from a “buy this with google wallet” in search, keeping you away from the website and allowing the transaction to take place in search itself. Certainly it would be an excellent revenue earner with eBay, Amazon and itunes affiliate links/transactions.  It’s Pinterest’s revenue model and has worked well for them.

Even if Google Plus only has one active user a month, the tail will wag the dog – meaning, companies will run Google Plus social media campaigns to grab search in the same way they tried to stuff keywords into their website. That will drive more people to Plus for competitions etc and that will make Google Plus more active and interesting. Tail wagging dog.

What do you think? Google Plus is relevant to business or not? Which businesses are affected by search and which one’s don’t need to care? And does anyone know how much companies pay in SEO consultancy in Australia? Billions I reckon…