Trend: Google Introduces Search Plus Your World

Google recently introduced its newest feature upgrade, Google Search Plus Your World, or Search+ for short. Essentially this feature will draw information for search results based on social circles and interaction. (research by Nielsen suggests that 42% of people trust search results, but 90% trust recommendations from friends). So far, Search+ pulls heavily from Google+ users, but not yet from Twitter or Facebook. The feature, which aims to “improve quality of search results through increased trustworthiness and personalization”, appears to be Google’s way of gaining market share in social networking.

Takeaway: +1 will have impact on other channels besides search and social.

Of course this change in search results is only applicable to users with Google accounts and can easily be turned off by clicking an icon on the right side of the screen. So this is not a function that will immediately and permanently affect every Google user. However, it may not be a game changer (just yet) but it certainly has the capability to be one in the future. Because Search+ relies primarily on social data, relevance on social sites and quality content creation will become more and more important for SEO in the future. Marcus Taylor of SEOptimize said “If I’m right, then I can see a shift in prominence in the SERPs to content producers with an active audience, but only in niches where communities exist.”. Essentially, if your industry has a flourishing online community, it will be increasingly important to be active within it.

Yes, this is our second Google-centric post in a row, but we just can’t let this trend go unnoticed. It definitely seems as if Google is rocking the marketing world yet again. Tech authorities are even comparing the magnitude of this new feature to that of Google’s switch to Universal Search in 2007 (for those of you who don’t know, this update marked the official demise of the old 10-listing SERP. Search results were now integrated with news, video, local and other verticals).

How to: Customized email campaigns to encourage +1’s and increase Search+ visibility

So what does this mean for email marketing? Marcus Taylor continued, “Email marketing will become increasingly important due to the power it has to encourage desired actions, such as social shares.” So in order to maximize visibility in Search+, marketers will need to become powerhouses of social interaction. Email will be an extremely valuable tool for this. Campaigns geared toward gaining +1’s and encouraging customer engagement will be key. Marketers who are not already making use of Google’s +1 button, will need to start doing so; because if they wish to show up for a certain search, they must improve their presence on Google+. Importance should be placed on directing customers to the desired social action via specialized email campaigns. Also, marketers should keep in mind that these campaigns will be most effective for products and services requiring search, therefore the content being posted must contain the necessary key words. Because it is already such a trusted platform for soliciting social interaction, I see email being the push that Search+ needs to really catch fire.