There has been plenty of online conjecture surrounding Google+. The new social networking website was initially billed as a "Facebook killer", and had 10 million people riding the crest of the hype wave by joining within the first month.
Bad News First
Despite the initial boom, Google+ is facing some teething problems that are beginning to slow growth.
Most notoriously, any user suspected of not using their real name has had their account deleted by Google. Even users who have unconventional names, or foreign characters within their names, have been removed from the site.
Google's ad hoc deletion of company profiles has only managed to stir more controversy. Mashable, for instance, was able to keep their company profile by changing the name of their page to that of CEO and founder Pete Cashmore. This allowed the company to retain all of their followers, which angered their competitors.
So why has Google been so reluctant to incorporate entity pages in Google+? Several brands, including Sesame Street and Search Engine Land, rushed to set up a page on the social networking site, only to have their account deleted. Consequently, Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land felt compelled to write an open letter about frustration caused by the inconsistent implementation of this policy.
Yet, regardless of the mounting complaints, Google is still insisting that the trial period is not supporting businesses or brands. Instead, they have pleaded to companies for their patience, as they will be releasing brand pages within the next few months after a trial period with a few select organizations, including Ford.
Interesting Features
This will ensure that the social network will have several branding and commercial uses:
Circles- An easy and logical way to organize the people within your network. It works fairly similarly to your "friends list" on Facebook, but it allows the publication of certain pieces of information exclusively for an individual circle. Google+ provides 4 pre-configured circles, friends, family, acquaintances, and followers, while enabling you to easily create new ones. Hangouts- Enables video chat with a whole group of people. Ideal for business meetings with associates in different countries. Sparks- Delivers information on pre-defined interests within you stream in over 40 languages. By adding your interests to your profile, Google+ will provide you with information to read, watch, or share. This certainly facilitates the discovery of great content.
So how can Google+ benefit Multilingual SEO?
Google+ has managed to achieve a significant viral growth in a short period of time. Within 16 days, the new social network reached 10 million users, a milestone that took Facebook 852 days to attain.
Much of this growth has come from highly populated countries across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. This demonstrates the importance of a multilingual approach, particularly within the field of social media and search marketing.
As a result, Google+ is proving to be an excellent platform for promoting original content. With the Sparks service available in over 40 languages, it is a great place to reach a multinational audience. But perhaps the most appealing aspects of Sparks is that it rewards interesting posts, as news and articles that generate a lot of response will be visible in your feed for longer.
Google+ has been widely praised for this service, with many organizations describing its capacity to make content "viral". For instance, Cory Bergman of Breaking News noted that "a few of our Google+ posts (with 2,000 followers) are starting to challenge the engagement levels of the same post on our Facebook page (with 50,000 followers)". Similarly, Tech Crunch has already ranked Google+ as one of its top 10 referring sites.
Yet, many are chiefly interested in Google+ because it can have a direct impact on Google searches.
Chris Brogan wrote on Forbes.com that "Google has all the data from Google+. They can't get any from Facebook. Google controls search. Where would you cast your vote for search improvement facilities?"
Google has also been making a concentrated effort to improve their search software. For instance, earlier this year Google released the Panda algorithm, which affected much of the English-speaking SEO community.
In spite of some strong criticism, Google have announced that the Panda update will be applied to multilingual search, and has been released in all countries, with the exception of China, Japan, and Korea. Google have confirmed that the translated algorithm will affect approximately 6-9% of all results. This is significantly less than the first iteration of Panda, which influenced an estimated 12% of all English search queries.
In response to the multilingual release, Google stated "Our scientific evaluation data show that this change improves our search quality across the board, and the response to Panda from users has been very positive."
Consequently, it is now more important for international firms to follow multilingual SEO best practices. These include the thorough localization of all keywords, the creation of original content, and ensuring that all material is unique to the website.
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