“Ask On Google+” Links Appearing In Google’s Search Results

The invasion of Google+ into Google’s search results continue. The latest Google+ification? Now Google’s encouraging people at the end of its search listings if they “Want to ask your friends about” what they were Googling. Want To Ask Your Friends? Tom Critchlow tipped me off to spotting this in his search results. I checked, and I found […]

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Google Plus LogoThe invasion of Google+ into Google’s search results continue. The latest Google+ification? Now Google’s encouraging people at the end of its search listings if they “Want to ask your friends about” what they were Googling.

Want To Ask Your Friends?

Tom Critchlow tipped me off to spotting this in his search results. I checked, and I found the same thing happening for me:

Example1

You can see that I’ve done a search for “sopa,” and at the bottom of the results, I’m prompted:

Want to ask your friends about sopa? Ask on Google+

While I see this, some of my other Search Engine Land editors do not. So, it might not be happening to everyone. It also doesn’t happen if you’re signed out of Google.

Good Idea, But Not For Every Query

The feature is helpful, in that I’ve written before that people do turn to their social networks to get questions answered. It makes huge amounts of sense to provide this type of prompt, especially if a search engine can detect that someone is having particular difficulty with a question.

However, there’s no particular intelligence going on behind this prompt. It shows up for every search, which means you can have lots of fun with it. For example:

Example4

Somehow, I think if I ask my friends on Google Plus, “How do I search on Google,” they’ll laugh at me. This is, by the way, an actual popular search that people do. If you don’t know how to search on Google, or want to search better, see our How To Use Google To Search page.

Here’s another fun one:

Example3

Given the sometimes fanboy nature of Google Plus, I’m pretty sure if I ask, “How do I share a link on Facebook,” I’ll be told to go back to Facebook.

This was my favorite:

Example5

How do I make friends on Google Plus? “Ask on Google+,” I’m encouraged!

Asking Your Question

If you do click on the “Ask on Google+” link, a little overlay window appears:

Example5askThat’s filled with the text of what you want to ask, prefaced by this:

Hi there! I have a question about….

For fun, you can do this search on Google+ to see who is actually asking questions using this standard greeting (so far, not many people).

After you post the question, it appears at the top of your Google+ stream and is shared with whomever you indicated:

Example5asked

Helpful, But Feels Like More Google+ Intruder

Like I said, it is a useful feature for any search engine to offer, perhaps long overdue. But some more intelligence behind when this prompt it appears would be useful. And it still comes across as yet another way that Google+ is injecting itself into Google’s search results.

I joked today that seeing how Google+ keeps creeping into Google’s search results makes me want to change the lyrics of Bedroom Intruder to begin, “It’s climbin’ in your Google, it’s snatching up your results….”

Now go watch Bedroom Intruder and laugh:

[youtube width=”560″ height=”315″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMtZfW2z9dw[/youtube]

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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Danny Sullivan
Contributor
Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land and MarTech, and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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