For many marketers (myself included), Google+ is pretty frustrating. No matter what Google says, it just feels like a waste of time and money because NO ONE is on it. They can tout their millions of users, but at the end of the day, Google+ will never be a platform that offers anything close to what Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and others do. It just doesn’t have the consumer engagement opportunities that brands need to be competitive. But the fact is, Google+ will live on because Google owns the internet and Google says so.
But never fear,Google+ does still have a purpose for us. While it’s probably not the most strategic place to achieve consumer engagement goals, it does have huge search engine optimization benefits. Even if relatively few users are on Google+, brands can leverage accounts by building out and verifying their profile, add photos, videos, posting updates, etc. It’s Google’s baby so Google+ content ranks well in natural searches. Bottom line – even if no one is actually engaging with your Google+ content directly, it’s a great support for your natural SEO.
