Tag: Google

Guest blog post by Steve Abramowitz, senior digital marketing manager

If you haven’t already heard, this week, Google announced plans to incorporate results from its upstart social network, Google+, into search results.

Why is Google making this move, and what impact will it have on users — and most importantly, why should small businesses and organizations take notice?

How does it work?

In Google’s ongoing quest to personalize search results for higher relevancy, it will soon be folding in personal social content into your search results. In addition, Google’s algorithm will now rely more on social signals (specifically, +1′s) to influence how and where websites, blogs, photos, videos, and other digital assets rank in search results. For example, check out this screen shot:

When you perform a search on Google, such as the one above, if you’re signed into a Google+ account, then you’ll see the standard universal search results you’re accustomed to and ones from your Google+ account (such as photos and videos). The personal results will be identified by an icon resembling a person’s head. Only you will see your own personalized search results, but content you’ve shared within your Google Circles could populate in other people’s results. You can also opt out of having your shared content included in search results. [Read more...]