A new report from Experian Hitwise revealed that Google+ picked up steam last week and had its 3rd largest week to date.  Hitwise chronicled US visits back to the social network’s inception and analyzed the social network’s total traffic.  Last week (the week ending on Nov. 12th) Google+ saw a 5% increase from the previous week and a 25% gain from a month ago.

The only two weeks that  recorded higher traffic were the weeks that directly proceeded the public launch of Google+.  Last week’s traffic spike is likely due to the major page additions for brands, business and places that were released on Monday.  Expect these numbers to continue to rise with this week’s enhancements that further promote Google+.

Overall Google+’s October numbers trended upwards as well.  Total October traffic  increased by 3% vs September and the average time spent on Google+ saw an increase of 15%.  This is quite the turn around from previous reports showing downward trends.

Supporting information from the report showed that the share of returning visitors was yet another metric that saw gains.  The first two weeks of November saw an 18% increase of return visitors in comparison to the first two weeks of October.  Return visits had plummeted directly after the public release; this may be a positive sign that users are beginning to engage more on the social network.

For more information, please see the full Experian Hitwise report.

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google: Google+

About The Author: Greg Finn is the Chief Marketing Officer for Cypress North, a company that specializes in social media and search marketing services and web-based application development. He has been in the Internet marketing industry for 6+ years and specializes in Social Media Marketing. You can also find Greg on Twitter (@gregfinn) or LinkedIn. See more articles by Greg Finn

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