What this means for you and your small business
While we have all heard of Google, not everyone is familiar with its kid sister Google +. The platform was Google’s 4th attempt to create a social media network by incorporating community engagement tactics such as Google Buzz, Google Friend Connect and Orkut. The platform showed great initial promise and was even seen as a threat by Facebook. However, within 1 year it had lost 91% of their daily active users and inevitably became an online graveyard.
The site struggled with traction, but more importantly, was the victim of 2 data breaches. According to Google, the vulnerability impacted 52.5 million users, who could have had profile information like their name, email address, occupation, and age exposed to developers, even if their account was set to private. Apps could also access profile data that had been shared with a specific user but was not shared publicly.
Vice President of Product Management for G Suite, David Thacker, writes, “With the discovery of this new bug, we have decided to expedite the shut-down of all Google+ APIs…we have also decided to accelerate the sunsetting of consumer Google+ from August 2019 to April 2019.”
What does this mean for you and your business? Check out these commonly asked questions below:
Will this impact my SEO?
- In short, NO. Being owned by the largest search engine in the world, you would expect Google + would deliver strong SEO benefits. In reality, the engagement was so low that it never adopted strong SEO traction from the beginning.
- For small businesses actively promoting on Google +, there could be a marginal impact on your SEO. However, with so many other thriving social media sites such as Instagram or Facebook, you can easily make up for any perceived dip in SEO performance.
Not sure how to improve your SEO? Talk to TSquared Marketing today!
What other platforms can my small business utilize?
- While the sun may be setting on Google +, Google My Business is just getting started. One of the biggest advantages is creating visibility on Google Search & Maps. This is a free service and can allow businesses to tap into potential revenue based on geography.
- A new feature to Google My Business is the call to action buttons on Google posts. This is also helpful when driving traffic to your site.
Will this impact other Google based applications?
- No, Google has ensured its users that other Google products will not be shut down as part of the termination of consumer Google + pages. Applications such as Gmail, Google Photos, Google Drive will continue business as usual.
How can I keep the information I have stored in Google +?
- Google has provided step by step instructions to download all information from your Google + page by March 31st. Click here for more information.
As we have seen, not even Google is safe from the ever-changing digital world. Do you need help navigating online and establishing your business presence? Contact the professionals at TSquared Marketing today.
