I have written more blogs on Google+ than I care to admit, life of an SEO engrained social media specialist, sigh. It seems that the fine folks at Google (they pay me to say that) have decided to call a conscious uncoupling of the two SEO friendly social media giants and in the end underhandedly admit the failing of the original purpose of Google+. They are finally waiving the white flag after a drawn out battle to remain relevant.
“While we got certain things right, we made a few choices that, in hindsight, we’ve needed to rethink.” – Bradley Horowitz, VP of Streams, Photos, and Sharing
What Is Changing?
With a heavy heart, Mr. Horowitz then goes on to explain what Google+ is now intended for, and it seems to be holding on to the idea of defined groups engaging about content based on an interest based social experience. With that “clearer” definition, Google has also decided to remove some features that don’t pertain to the new vision. Google+ Photos is being moved to a new app, Google Photos, and it is no longer a necessity for your Google+ profile to be linked to all your other Google products. Which brings us to the break up.
In the coming months you will only need a Google account (Gmail address) to be able to use Google’s myriad of products instead of a Google+ social profile. This allows those who do not want to be searched, followed or have a public profile to jump in celebration. For all those who were duped/forced had Google+ profiles and no longer want them, Google promises to make it easier to manage moving forward.
What It Means For Business
I hate to be a pessimist and a hypocrite, read any one of my previous Google+ blogs, but in my opinion this is the first step in many that deem this network a very low priority for B2B. My previous blogs boasted about the SEO benefits of having a linked YouTube and Google profile and the importance of playing with the tools Google gives us. Well, Google is now giving us a clear sign that this isn’t necessarily the case anymore. If you have an active following on Google+ and keep it updated by all means this is not a death sentence, however if Google+ was somewhere on your B2B marketing priorities list it might be okay to bump it down a few line items until we see how the network evolves moving forward and how it could potentially work for business.
