3 more reasons law bloggers should use Google+
Technology writer, Sohail Qaisar, wrapping up a piece on the debate between Google’s Matt Cutts and Rand Fishkin’s Moz.com on the impact of Google+ on search shared three good reasons bloggers ought to be using Google+.
Here’s the three, with a little annotating by me.
- Faster post indexing. Google+ is used by Google to discover new content and index it faster. Traditionally, Google followed links to websites and content and spidered back for updates based on the frequency of updates. Webmasters have found that when newer web pages are shared on Google+ they get indexed in no time. Facebook and Twitter do not have the same impact as they are, in large part, not indexed by Google.
- Google+ shares are mini-blog posts. When you share anything on Google+, you get all the benefits of a traditional blog post.
- The shared post has its own URL and it pulls in a 40-50 character description of the shared link.
- Studies have proven a positive correlation between higher search rankings and longer entries on Google+. So a summary of your post may be better than a teaser or soundbite. I use teasers, but may now change.
- When the shared post is re-shared within the Google platform, it further improves search rankings.
- Get to build Author Rank. While Google is not too forthcoming about whether Author Rank will play a positive role in search rankings, rumors are rife that it will and thus, as a blogger you want to prepare for Author Rank. Go to the “Contributor” section of the G+ profile page and add URL’s of the places you have published your piece; not the homepage link, the published URL. Searches today already show author image in results, thus, it will help to establish yourself as an authority figure in your niche area of law or locale.
As I have blogged before, Google+ and Google authorship is a big deal for blogging lawyers. Don’t worry about how many times the +1 or Google+ is getting clicked on your blog. We’re not writing on big time news, sports, tech, or fashion sites. We don’t get a lot of Google+ love.
But influence is everything for you as a lawyer looking to build relationships with your target audience and a word of mouth reputation as the ‘go to’ lawyer in a niche. Google+ will build trust, influence, and even search results now that search is more and more based on influence.
You need not break your neck with Google+, yet another social network. Try just a few things.
- Get Google authorship set up on your blog.
- Complete your Google+ profile as a I blogged here.
- Start sharing a few posts a week in Google+. It can be one of your own and a couple from other sources. Sharing content from third parties demonstrates you are not all about ‘Me, Me, Me.’
Do this and you’ll have planted a seed in Google+, a seed that’s going to grow to benefit you over the long haul.