Google+ pages for brands & businesses were announced last week, and Google has been busy rolling out supporting features.  Yesterday, Google began displaying select Google+ pages in the search results.  Today it has been announced that Google+ partnered with six companies to create Google+ page management tools. The selected companies are: Buddy Media Context Optional Hearsay Social HootSuite Involver Virtue More information on each specific tool can be located on the Google+ 3rd Party tools page along with Google+ pages for each. If you are a tool creator looki [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Google+

Earlier today, 'All About Content' reported that Google+ data was showing in Google's organic search listings.  Two different items are now appearing in the search results pages, recent Google+ posts and an "Add To Circles" button.  The only caveat?  These results will only show for select Google+ brand accounts that have been approved for Direct Connect.  Even those brands who have been approved for Direct Connect may have to wait, as these features are being rolled out slowly.  Here's a look at the new additions: Google+ Posts Whether or not you currently have a Google+ account [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Google+ | Top News

Finding it too much hassle to organize your friends and contacts into circles on Google+? Google may have a solution on the way, thanks to the company's acquisition of Katango. Katango launched this past summer with an iPhone app that automagically organizes Facebook friends through an algorithmic approach that looks at profile information, past interactions with friends and the interactions friends have with each other. Google+ Product VP Bradley Horowitz just confirmed the acquisition in a post on Google+, saying In the earliest days of Google+, I alluded to the fact that we had bi [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Acquisitions | Google: Google+ | Top News

A new feature of Google+ is Google+ Direct Connect, where typing the name of a company preceded by a + symbol will make that company's Google+ Page appear as a suggestion in the search box, in the right circumstances. Who are the lucky few, so far? Here's an alphabetical rundown, which reveals a number of surprises on how Direct Connect works, along the way: A Amazon, AT&T, Angry Birds and ABC News all make the A list. B & Thoughts About "Regular Suggestion" Opportunities Burberry makes the list here, oddly followed by Angry Birds. Bank of America and Best Buy are regular su [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Features: Analysis | Google: Google+ | Google: Suggest

Google's introduction yesterday of Google+ Pages for businesses will likely have a dramatic impact on +1s in AdWords. When businesses create a Page on Google+, they can link the page to their web site URLs and also to their AdWords account. When that's done, +1s for any of the linked URLs -- on web sites or landing pages for AdWords ads -- will all accrue to the brand, making the numbers much larger. [caption id="attachment_100398" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Image provided by Google"][/caption]   Previously, +1s were specific to individual URLs and only accumulat [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: +1 | Google: AdWords | Google: Google+ | Top News

Along with the big announcement of Google+ pages yesterday, a search-specific feature called "Google+ Direct Connect" was also announced. The Google+ Direct Connect functionality will help to give Google+ pages more visibility in the search engine results pages when custom operators are used. What Exactly Is Direct Connect? Last month, Google retired the "+" operator, most likely in anticipation of the Direct Connect release. Now Google+ Direct Connect leverages the "+" symbol for those looking to go directly to a Google+ page in search. Instead of typing in "YouTube  Google Plus" Dire [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Google+ | Top News

Today, Google launched Google+ Pages, allowing businesses to take part in its social network. Here's a walk-through on how to create and manage these pages: Creating A Page Within two days or sooner, everyone is supposed to be able to make pages by using the Create A Page tool. Availability is rolling out now, so if you get an "Google+ Pages isn't ready" error, keep checking back. (NOTE: Google now says everyone should have access). Assuming you do have access, I'll start with what you see when making a page for the "Product or Brand" category, though the steps work the same for any c [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Features: General | Google: Google+ | How To: Social Media Marketing

Finally, Google is now allowing businesses, brands and any non-human entity to participate in its Google+ social network, through new Google+ Pages that are launching today, promised to be available to everyone shortly. Businesses Weren't Allowed, Initially Businesses have wanted to be part of Google+ from the start. In fact, many businesses and brands made use of regular Google+ accounts as a way to participate on the service despite their non-human status. However, in July, Google terminated any business accounts that it spotted, including one from Sesame Street, promising that formal b [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Features: General | Google: Google+ | Top News

Today Google announced the integration of two of their most popular products, YouTube and Chrome,  into Google+.  These enhancements make sharing videos on YouTube easier and brings the +1 button and Google+ notifications to the rest of the web for Chrome users. Google+ YouTube Integration Users have always been able to share YouTube videos on Google+, the functionality is now baked into the network.  Each Google+ user will see a small YouTube branded tab on the right hand side of their screen now when logged in. Upon hovering over the tab, users will see a search box where the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Google+

Google News will soon start highlighting journalists' profiles in Google News. But rather than highlighting the profiles from their primary website/writing venue, Google will be highlighting their Google+ profiles. In a blog post today, Google showed an example of how the profiles will be featured within Google News. The journalist has to first have a Google account that's linked to their articles, and when that's the case, Google News will show the journalist's Google account profile photo along with information about his/her from Google+ -- how many followers and an "Add to circles [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Accounts & Profiles | Google: Authorship | Google: Google+ | Google: News | Google: Rich Snippets

Google has rolled out a few changes to how it shows results that use the rel=author markup. Some of these are things that have been spotted in testing in recent weeks, so today's announcement formalizes how that markup will display in Google's search results. Here's how it currently looks using one of Danny Sullivan's recent articles: (I was going to use one of my articles as an example, but Google has turned off my rel=author status for some reason. But I'm not angry. At all.) Anyhoo, the author's image is justified to the left of the snippet information -- that was changed some [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: Authorship | Google: Google+ | Google: Rich Snippets | Google: SEO | Google: Web Search

Today Google announced a flurry of new features for its fledgling social network, Google+.  The new additions include popular content on Google+, analytics for public shares called "Google+ Ripples,"  creative kits for photos and accounts for Google Apps users.  Here's a bit of info on each of the new items: "What's Hot" - Popular Content On Google+ Google's new "What's Hot" feature brings popular information from around Google+ to all users.  This new feature will help those who are tired of scrolling through their circles to discover good information.  "What's Hot" will be found on 2 [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Google+

Last week speculation arose about a new cloud based Google Music Store that could compete against Amazon and Apple.  This week more news broke including the social integration that the Google Music Store may bring. The Wall Street Journal reported that Google Music will tie in closely with the Google+ social network.   Users will reportedly be able to recommend songs from their Google Music account directly to Google+.  These songs will be able to be shared with circles, as friends will be able to listen to a  recommendation once for free.  Song would need to be purchased for ad [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Google+ | Google: Music

It looks like adding a suggested user list to Google+ has finally paid off in solving its "Mark Zuckerberg problem." Facebook's CEO is no longer the most popular person on Google+, having just now been passed by Google CEO Larry Page. Zuckerberg has been the most followed user since the first week that Google+ launched. That's despite never once having posted to Google Plus. Suggested User List Launched On September 3, Google launched a Google+ suggested user list, encouraging Google+ users to "follow public posts from interesting and famous people," as you can see below: You'll find [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Google: Google+ | Stats: Popularity | Top News

It appears that Google is listening to feedback on their new social networking site and acting accordingly.  Google+ had a bit of a rocky launch with issues around brand accounts, and a total lack of Google Apps support.  Even a Google Engineer recently called the service a "knee-jerk" response to Facebook. During the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco yesterday, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and SVP Of Social Business Vic Gundotra talked about the changes coming to Google+.  Two of the biggest announcements were support for Google Apps and a change in the "real-name" policy. TechWeb [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Google+

Google cofounder Sergey Brin made a surprise appearance at Web 2.0 Summit today, and in talking about Google Plus, he said despite not being social himself, he found the service compelling. "I'm not a very social person myself," Brin said to interviewer John Battelle, adding that he tried a number of social services "because I feel it's important to my job." None of them were a fit until his own company's network launched. "Google Plus, I instantly found compelling," Brin said. Brin was joined by senior vice president and Google+ czar Vic Gundotra. Are the 40 million users that Go [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Google+

Buzz was a great learning experience, says Google, but in a few weeks it will be shut down and all such efforts will be focused on Google Plus. The move will likely come as no surprise to Google-watchers, who noted that Buzz integration with Google+ was minimal. Additionally, the Google Labs page, as previously announced, will disappear after today. "We learned a lot from products like Buzz, and are putting that learning to work every day in our vision for products like Google Plus," Bradley Horowitz, vice president of product at Google, wrote in a blog post. Buzz had a relatively short [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Buzz | Google: Google+ | Google: Labs | Top News

Google announced that Google+ has 40 million users today. Woo-hoo! That's nearly half what Twitter claims, right? And while it's below Facebook's 800 million, Google's getting there, right? Wrong. The number simply can't be compared to Facebook and Twitter. Active Users Vs. Sign-Ups Let's start with Facebook. At various points, Facebook has given out a count of how many users it has. Currently, on its stats page, Facebook claims 800 million active users. Active users are key here. By active, Facebook means people who have logged into Facebook at least once per month. Facebook has many mor [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Google: Google+ | Stats: Popularity | Top News | Twitter

As part of Google's earnings announced today, CEO Larry Page announced that Google's social network, Google+, now has 40 million members. That puts it still well behind Facebook's 800 million, closer to Twitter's 100 million, but doesn't seem to count "active" users. Page said in the earnings release: "We had a great quarter," said Larry Page, CEO of Google.  "Revenue was up 33% year on year and our quarterly revenue was just short of $10 billion. Google+ is now open to everyone and we just passed the 40 million user mark. People are flocking into Google+ at an incredible rate and we are [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Google: Google+ | Stats: Relevancy | Twitter

Google has announced that its still relatively new Google+ Search feature now will update its results in real time plus has new support for hashtags. Alerts For New Results When doing a search, if there are new results that have happened after you initially did your search, you'll see a message alerting you to the new information: In the screenshot above, you can see the "1 more recent post" link. Select that, if it shows, and your search results will be updated. The exact number of posts will vary by search and activity, of course. If you're searching in "Most Recent" mode, then the res [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Google+ | Top News