The 7 Quick Optimisation Rules for Construction Companies Using Google+

Last year, at the launch of Google+ we spent some time looking at the features and the potential of the new social media platform and how it can be best utilized for business. We also took a look at what Google+ is able to teach marketers about segmentation.

As the popularity of the site grows, the SEO benefits of Google+ have become a hot topic amongst its ever-increasing number of users. According to Dustin W. Stout, Google+ now have more active users than any other social media site outside of Facebook. That’s pretty impressive for a platform created less than a year ago.

Many of the Google+ users now want to understand how the platform can help with them with their SEO efforts and how they can implement a Google+ SEO strategy.

If your construction business currently has, or is thinking of setting up a Google+ account, it’s worth thinking about the ‘rules of the Google+ SEO game’ before you really get going. The idea is that, first and foremost you want to get people to your Google+ page. Once they are there you want to deliver value to them, tell them about your company, engage with them, send them to your website, celebrate your wins with them and whatever else your marketing strategy deems fit based on your business’s individual requirements.

So lets take a step back for a moment. How can you, the construction business drive traffic to your Google+ page in order to implement your social media marketing tactics?

Below, we’ve compiled a list of the top 7 SEO rules for Google+ that will get your construction company ahead in the Google+ SEO game. Within this information, we’ve included a number of examples taken from BAM Construct UK, one of the top 15 Construction Companies highlighted in our social media research last month.

1.    +1 buttons Trump the Facebook ‘Like’

It might sound obvious but posting popular content will be a key tactic for optimizing your Google+ page. The Google+1 is similar to Facebook’s ‘like’ button. The big difference is that the +1 button is indexed by Google and so will affect how easy it will be for internet users to find you.

Ensure you understand what content your audience need and appreciate, make it attractive, incentivise them to share it and do it regularly.

The Facebook ‘Like’ & Google+1 Buttons

2.    Your SEO Title is your Company’s Name

Ensure your company’s name is the name of your Google+ business page. Don’t be tempted to ply your SEO title with keywords, it’s not meant for this, it will look unprofessional and will provide no SEO value to your page.

BAM Construct UK’s SEO Title

3.     SEO Meta Description

Your meta description is 160 words long, named on Google+ as your ‘Tagline’ and ‘Introduction’. The first one or two lines of this should include a few of your top SEO keywords.

BAM Construct UK’s SEO Meta Description

4.    Custom Page URL

URL’s on Google+ began as fairly unattractive, complicated format. The platform has now amended this to give you the option to create a custom URL which is both shorter, easier to remember and more attractive. It will also contribute highly to your optimization efforts, boosting your Google+ page rankings above those of your competitors that are yet to change their URL.

BAM Construct UK’s Custom URL

5.    Personalisation

Search results are influenced by Google+ through the search personalisation which occurs when Google+ users are logged into their Google accounts. Search results containing those people you have in your Google+ circles will come up higher than those who are not. The more people you have within your circles that are within your target market, the better chance you will have of your content being seen by them as they go about their daily use of Google.

Google search results for ‘Construction’ as seen when logged into Google+ account (and following BAM Construct UK)

6.    Do Use DoFollow Links (in the right places)

When posting content on Google+, you will have the option to fill out a number of boxes; Title; Summary; Link; Commentary; Engagement; Hashtags; Image. In order to assist in maximising your SEO it’s important to remember the importance of a DoFollow link and in Google+ this needs to be placed specifically in the Link Attachment area. Placing it elsewhere will not reap the same SEO rewards.

NB: You’ll already be aware that link is a connection you create between two websites (usually located inside text or pictures)

DoFollow links are links that lead you to the destination you expect to get to when you click on them. It tells Google (and other search engines) to follow the link to the destination you are trying to get to. Having do-follow links within your site is beneficial for your SEO by providing what is known as ‘link juice’ and will increase your page rank.

Example of a regular link compared to a DoFollow link, both (usually) placed behind text or an image:

Regular link:

DoFollow link:

You may at some point have also heard of a no-follow link. Developed initially to counteract the spammers and other unethical marketing tactics often found on the internet, essentially a NoFollow link instructs Google not to count the target page in its search engine’s index. Its not essential to know what this is for the purposes of Google+ SEO but in a nut shell a NoFollow link instructs search engines like Google to not count the link in their indexing.

7.    Google+ Authorship

Google Authorship is a key part of SEO for Google+. It allows the person posting the content to make claim to their content so that Google recognizes it as theirs. Google ranks content that is linked to online profiles more highly than content that is not. Google wants to know that the person who wrote it is trustworthy; linking your content back to your Google+ profile via Authorship is a great way to help Google with this.