Google Becomes Social Engine-Internet Marketing Interaction Tips

Saturday, January 7th, 2012 at 6:19 pm

Is Google Turning Into Social Engine?

There are subtle and rumored signs as well as obvious signs that Google is rapidly becoming a social engine. It will be the biggest social engine of all when everything falls into place.

If you are involved in or interested in internet marketing, it’s important for you to read on. If you haven’t read my post Social Engine Optimization-Social Media Search Engine Optimization-SMEO do so now. Then come back here to read about the obvious signs, the subtle and rumored signs of Google going social and get a few tips on internet marketing interaction and a hot Facebook and Google+ course.

Obvious Signs of Google Turning Social

The obvious signs are both fairly old – YouTube and fairly new – Google+. YouTube and Google+ are social platforms. While YouTube has been around for years it has recently started changing it’s look and tens of millions of dollars are going into making it even more social and interconnected with other social media sites. Google+ is still very new but it has already forced Facebook to be more proactive and even a little bit more pro business.

Subtle, Rumored Signs of Google Going Social

The internal and hidden workings of Google have always been kept secret and mysterious and perhaps rightly so. Things like the algorithm keep on changing to make it virtually impossible to fool the system.

But smart people don’t want to fool Google. Smart people want to do what works.

What works is sticking to the rules, honesty, good content and increasingly, this is the rumored part, interaction.

It seems that Google is now placing a lot more value on your interaction with your readers. In the past it had some value in Google’s eyes and it usually meant comments on your site or blog.

The value of comments is now much higher but that’s not all.

It appears that Google now also values highly your interaction through social media like Google+, YouTube and Facebook as they are connected to your site or blog.

Nobody is going to be able to conclusively prove this unless Google goes out of their way and makes a statement confirming it. They may never do that.

When you look at the signs mentioned above and how Google is in the process of integrating things like Google+ and YouTube with it’s new design into the mix you can’t but conclude that things are getting more social.

Update January 11, 2012: Yesterday a blog post appeared on Google’s blog that is announcing Google Search Plus. That is as obvious a sign of Google going social as you can get. It’s now even more important for you to keep on reading and clicking on one of the links that mention Facebook course or Google+ course or Social Media Course or anything similar.

Internet Marketing Interaction Tips

Engaging your readers and your audience has always been a good idea and it has always worked.

Now there are more ways of doing it than ever before.

Comments on your blog are very important and will always be. Don’t let anybody convince you otherwise. The importance of comments is growing steadily. One tip about comments that many ignore is that in order to interact through comments you need to reply to comments your readers post and keep the conversation going.

Facebook, Google+, YouTube, Twitter and other social media interaction is getting more important and valuable each day now.

Have you been resisting using Google+, Facebook etc. ?

If you use them, do you know how to use them fully, taking advantage of everything they can do for you?

I couldn’t believe it when I read a comment somewhere in which a person was astonished that there are actually courses on Facebook and Google+. To them chit chatting needs no instruction.

There’s a lot more that can be done with social media than chit chatting, of course.

Is every possible way of using them for your business, whether you are an internet marketer or a conventional brick and mortar operation, clear to you?

Unless you’ve devoted a lot of your time to figuring everything out for yourself and keep at it to stay up to date, it’s very unlikely that you know how to use Facebook, Google+ and other social media to their maximum potential.

This is why courses are popping up all the time, especially on Facebook, fan pages and so on.

People need help to be able to use them quickly, properly and fully for their businesses. Most of these courses are helpful but I find that they are usually leaving out some important things and sometimes too many. Most of the courses aren’t being updated and often are obsolete as soon as they come out.

There is one course on Facebook and Google+ that is complete and ongoing with constant updates. This course covers Facebook completely and Google+ increasingly. I’m taking the course myself and I’m recommending it to everybody. It’s the best Facebook and Google+ course that I’ve seen so far.

Click on any of the two links just above or click here to check it out.

Are you currently taking a social media course or thinking about doing so?

What’s your opinion about Google turning into a social media engine?

Respond in the comments section and then like this post on Facebook, Google+ it and tweet the post to share it with others. Be social media and social engine friendly.

P.S. I’ve used a different text spacing for the Internet Marketing Interaction Tips part of the post. You are kindly requested to comment about which spacing you prefer after you answer the questions above. Does the larger spacing make it so much easier for you to read the text that you don’t mind having to do the extra scrolling? I listen, read and pay attention to what my readers prefer to see on my blog so please make your preference known.

Authored by Vance Sova

Filed under: Internet Marketing Tools

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64 Comments

Michael Kwan says:

January 8, 2012 at 11:01 pm

There are courses out there on how to use Facebook and such, but these are the same as the folks who would take a course on “how to surf the Internet” or “how to use a word processor.” The average, reasonably competent computer user won’t take them. However, from the perspective of marketing, advertising, brand building and that kind of thing, courses can be useful… I’m just not sure I would take them myself.
Michael Kwan´s last [type] ..Sunday Snippet: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos

[Reply]
Vance Reply:
January 8th, 2012 at 11:56 pm
Hi Michael,

Thanks for commenting. I know what you mean. There are Facebook courses that are very basic and of little value to people like you or even an average person online. The course I’m talking about goes very deep about marketing, brand building and everything else. It also goes into Google+ but not as deeply, YouTube, Twitter and so on. You may know all of that but most people including myself find it very valuable.

What about Google becoming social search engine, what do you think about that?

[Reply]
Sandra Jones says:

January 10, 2012 at 6:29 am

We can never deny that search engines share a secret relationship with social media. But with each passing day, it’s becoming more and more evident. Being search engine giant, Google sure has interests in social networking services, more so after Google Plus was born. It’s only a matter of time when Google evolves into a social engine, besides being what it really is…

[Reply]
Vance Reply:
January 11th, 2012 at 8:58 pm
Hi Sandra,

Thanks for the nice comment. As opposed to the dismissive comment that Fred wrote, you have more of an insight. Now to prove that there is some truth to what I wrote here is a proof that Google has already made another progress in this direction on their own blog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/search-plus-your-world.html

Considering that I wrote my post at least a week before I posted it, there is no way I could have known anything concrete that now appears on Google’s blog when I wrote it. It was just my observation and anticipation. What will concretely happen with Google and all the details is of course unknown to me and anybody else who’s not part of Google. However the direction has been set. It’s no gossip.

[Reply]
Fred says:

January 10, 2012 at 8:01 am

Reading the pages tittle makes me shock about google but it seems that its just a gossips. Very interesting post about it. If it will be happen lots of individual can make it more advancing for those who knows about Google much but it seems that they have a hard time to compete with Facebook because lots of individual don’t know much about Google+ or Google instead.

[Reply]
Cindy says:

January 10, 2012 at 5:02 pm

Really nice tips here! Thanks for sharing them, my biggest resolution for the new year was to increase the traffic of my blog. I’ve already done some SEO stuff on it, but I have heard that there is an other way to get more traffic on a blog: the social media. I have personal accounts on several social media sites, but now I have to create some accounts for my blog, too. I already know how it works on Facebook, Twitter and youtube, but I have heard that there is a special business scene on Google+. Does anybody know how it works? And according to your article, I would mention LinkedIn as a possibility, too.
Cindy´s last [type] ..Toothache – home remedies

[Reply]
Vance Reply:
January 11th, 2012 at 8:41 pm
Hi Cindy,

Thanks for the nice comment. I have mentioned social media and named several platforms. I didn’t mention LinkedIn but that wasn’t to say anything about them either way. They are good too, it’s just that I couldn’t mention all the platforms because the post would get too long and cluttered. The course I recommend which is primarily on Facebook also covers LinkedIn as well as Google+, YouTube and Twitter. Just check it out and you’ll see that they are all there. There’s also a portion of the course which you can take virtually for free or for just a few dollars if you aren’t sure you want to go fully ahead with it as I did.

[Reply]
Stevie from SEO says:

January 10, 2012 at 5:54 pm

If you are going for best contents like myself, simply pay a quick visit this site daily since it presents quality contents, thanks

[Reply]
Vance Reply:
January 11th, 2012 at 8:43 pm
Hi Stevie,

I’m not sure which site you’re talking about. If it’s mine thanks. Please clarify if you are indeed visiting daily.

[Reply]
Mia from programming says:

January 13, 2012 at 1:09 am

Google is becoming a complex entity, this is not necessarily bad, but right now i think that we need strict laws regarding sharing and distributing private content. Without them, every individual is vulnerable, and can be an online victim.

[Reply]
Vance Reply:
January 13th, 2012 at 2:13 am
Hi Mia,

Thank you for the comment. I don’t think that current laws allow anybody to share private information on anybody. Therefore I don’t see any need for more laws. Perhaps if you can be more specific as to what you mean it would be helpful.

[Reply]
Richard says:

January 13, 2012 at 6:04 am

Your right Vance, Google is becoming a huge social engine and it’s tentacles are becoming more and more intertwined in everyone’s life. I can still remember when Google was a relative new comer, and I have to say I preferred it as just a simple search engine. Google seems to want to take over every upcoming web innovation, from social networking, to shopping comparison to video. I prefer a more diverse Web, where more companies can make a buck.

[Reply]
Vance Reply:
January 13th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Hi Richard,

I don’t think that Google is preventing other companies or anybody from making money online. They definitely want to increase their business and get into more things. How is that different from any other successful company?

At least they have some backbone and leave even the largest potential market in the world rather than cooperating with censorship and other freedom busting activities that other huge companies and even governments agree to in order to make a buck.

Thanks for commenting,
Cheers,
Vance

[Reply]
Max from Gas vs electric dryer says:

January 13, 2012 at 9:57 pm

Thinking the same thing Vance. It looks like Google wants to become the hub of all the internet. I mean, right now a large portion of internet users have Google as their homepage, but now this homepage is not just a search engine, but now it’s also social media (i.e Google Plus). I can see them striving for a monopoly of the net.

[Reply]
Adeline says:

January 14, 2012 at 12:22 am

Google appears to be desperately pushing it’s social engine idea. I hope their eagerness to get on the social bandwagon does not derail the good thing they had going with the search engine service.
Adeline´s last [type] ..How to Reinstall Internet Explorer 9 in Windows 7

[Reply]
Sam from Raising Money Online says:

January 16, 2012 at 3:59 am

Google is getting more an more social every day. My search results now show G+ pages and posts which is pretty exciting!

G have a massive reach and if they continue incorporating every product with G+ it’s bound to get more traction.

Looks like that’s another social media profile to manage!

[Reply]
Liz from Guldkit says:

January 16, 2012 at 9:37 am

Interesting post – I do indeed think that Google is placing more importance on social. It’s one of the best ways for the search engine to find content that people want to read.

Re. the spacing – I find that the first one felt easier to read. This could be because I am a fast reader, and so having my eyes have to hop through a large white space feels disorienting, and also the scrolling aspect.
Liz @ Guldkit´s last [type] ..Guldkit – rädda naturen

[Reply]
Vance Reply:
January 17th, 2012 at 11:05 pm
Hi Liz,

Thanks for the comment and for taking the time to answer my question which I also requested from my readers about the spacing. It’s interesting that you view it similarly as I do. Contrary to what a lot of people advise, which is bigger spacing, I don’t like it myself. The added scrolling and empty spaces don’t add to my reading enjoyment at all. Some people like large spacing because they like to read in small bites and don’t want to lose the spot where they last glanced. This is why some copywriters advise writing this way. But you are one of many that takes a different view and that’s great.It just proves that things don’t work uniformly for everyone. Unless I get an overwhelming response in favor of the larger spacing I won’t be using it much if ever again.

[Reply]
Mae from human hair wigs says:

January 17, 2012 at 1:44 pm

I agree that interaction is important in SEO and Google+ is Google’s way of telling us that we should engage with our readers more. With the growing popularity of Google+, Facebook is now on massive campaign because their number of active users has decreased. This is mostly due to innovations made by Youtube and Google+.

[Reply]
milla says:

January 17, 2012 at 2:09 pm

What’s my opinion?? well..too much face-tweet-thumblr-bla bla and you will not have good life…too much kids spent time on net and real social meetings are forgotten..much less kids goes out and play with others..and now google follow that..ccc
milla´s last [type] ..Will SMO Replace SEO?

[Reply]
Vance Reply:
January 17th, 2012 at 11:10 pm
Hi Milla,

Thanks for the comment. Too much of anything is not good. That doesn’t mean that in the right amounts it cannot be good.

[Reply]
Catwoman says:

January 18, 2012 at 4:26 pm

I don’t think that it is a good way what google does nowadays. They can already control us and collect all the data of our internet surfing habits. It will be a social engine, and also an all-round internet environment. And that doesn’t only have benefits.
Catwoman´s last [type] ..fogbeültetés

[Reply]
Vance Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 8:17 pm
Hi Catwoman,

Almost everybody is collecting information, not only Google. Pretty much everything anyone does can be monitored. That is so even without any social media and Google getting involved with it. Good or bad that’s the world we live in.

Thanks for commenting.

[Reply]
Carey says:

January 18, 2012 at 5:42 pm

I hope their eagerness to get on the social bandwagon does not derail the good thing they had going with the search engine service.
Carey´s last [type] ..Payment Protection Insurance

[Reply]
Vance Reply:
January 18th, 2012 at 8:18 pm
Hi Carey,

I think they can handle both quite easily. Thanks for commenting.

[Reply]
Adrian from Panoramic Universal Ltd. says:

January 20, 2012 at 2:24 am

Hey Vance,
This is one of the important factors for today’s Inbound Marketing and SEO. The reason i am saying is that because the Google SERP is now much more fueled with the social searches. earlier in 2009, Google started it’s first step towards being Social by having partnership with twitter and fetching the tweets into the google SERP, and this year after so many error and trials with Google Buzz, google Wave the Ultimate outcome with which the Google folks come is Google+ and it’s wide coverage in the Google SERP is much bigger evidence of Google Being social. As we all know that the Search engines are now preferring to make more and more customized experience for any user, so indeed the Google comes on the first step for it. recently the Google’s new way of SERP aka “Search Plus Your World” has gathered lots of attentions as well as many people have thought about the privacy also upon this new feature. Today’s Search engines are much more different than of last 3 to 7 years.. Great topic and post Vance.. would be waiting for more from you!

[Reply]
Pete from Boulder DUI Attorney says:

January 20, 2012 at 8:57 am

Google is absolutely turning into a social engine. With the new Google+ integration into search, and twitter feeds supplying breaking news. It is exciting news for people who create engaging content, like yourself.

Followed on Twitter.

[Reply]
Aurindam Mukherjee says:

January 24, 2012 at 9:39 pm

Google is ruining the way people search. However, times they are changing and so Google has to change.
Aurindam Mukherjee´s last [type] ..Why You need to Re-Think Your Digital Marketing Strategy!

[Reply]
Astrid Sanschagrin says:

January 25, 2012 at 6:15 am

I am still fairly new with google plus and search plus. I am glad that Google turned social without trying to be the next Facebook or something like that. It seems nice that they also teamed up with other social platforms. I just hope that Google will trash the error message when one is using the google search engine too much. Thanks for the insights.
Astrid Sanschagrin´s last [type] ..Banc de musculation V-Fit

[Reply]
Pettina26 says:

January 26, 2012 at 7:22 am

Nice to know about these improvement bring by our Google engine, I think its an additional benefits for everyone.

[Reply]
Liz from Make Money Online says:

January 26, 2012 at 11:23 pm

Yes, it seems so. So your +1 matters than your keywords? I am trying my best to expand my circles so that I can reach more people. Also wishing that they will click on my +1 to boost my ranking. Pretty tiresom.
Liz @ Make Money Online´s last [type] ..H&R Block Promo Codes 2012

[Reply]
Annie from Interactive Ad Agency says:

January 27, 2012 at 12:25 pm

It will be interesting to see if G+ succeeds. At this point, it seems like they messed up the timing by launching before having all the features available. It was very hyped in the beginning and many people joined, but very few of those people are using it.

[Reply]
Vance Reply:
January 30th, 2012 at 2:14 am
Hi Annie,

You have a good point. They didn’t do everything right to start with but I think that’s quite normal. I think they’ll fix things, improve them and will grow again. We’ll see. Thanks for the comment.

[Reply]
Leige Lu says:

January 28, 2012 at 12:36 pm

I think social marketing can be done by anyone with a lot of time but not necessarily done well! I tried to do Social marketing to drive business to my web page but I found that I just didn’t have enough time to do it so I decided to outsource to an established company called Magicbuz. They have teams of conversationalists who talk to people on a personal level all over the internet and market my business to more people than I could ever have. The traffic coming to my web page is awesome.

[Reply]
Ryan from Whistler Homes For Sale says:

January 29, 2012 at 11:06 am

Social media is becoming more popular as time moves further into the 21st century. Google may devote more time and resources into expanding their own social media network.

[Reply]
Richard from Orthodontic Treatment says:

January 29, 2012 at 7:15 pm

Google Plus didn’t advance since its launch. So I was thinking if it will be a Facebook killer or not. Google may have turned the search engine into social engine but I think it’s far to conclude that it is successful enough.

[Reply]
Vance Reply:
January 30th, 2012 at 1:56 am
Hi Richard,

I don’t know many people who think that Google is not successful enough. As a search engine it alone has more market share than all the others combined. It owns YouTube which is number one in its category. Google+ has not been around for years like Facebook and I hope it won’t ever be a Facebook killer. There’s room for at least two players.

Thanks for the comment.

[Reply]
Brian from pizza blogt says:

January 31, 2012 at 10:54 pm

I am quite upset with this new search your world junk Google has implemented. I don’t like it at all. And I hate having to make an extra click every time I do a Google search. That would be the click on the icon that says “hide personal results.” I’d be a bit happier if I could click a permanent “Hide personal results.” button.
Brian@pizza blogt´s last [type] ..Muhammad Ali Pizza Hut Commercial With Angelo Dundee

[Reply]
Marlo from Tucson Pediatric Dentist says:

February 1, 2012 at 6:54 pm

I’ve read an article about Google Search Plus and I think this is the proof that Google is becoming a social engine. I don’t know bu t reading the articles today about G+, specially about it’s hang-out (even used by Obama), what can I say? It’s great to have an account at G+ both for personal and business advantage.

[Reply]
breakup to makeup says:

February 2, 2012 at 5:25 am

Thank you! I’m going to subscribe to your RSS Feed to be updated on your latest posts. I can also contribute some information since I know the topics that this blog covers.

Cheers,
Jeffery

[Reply]
Vance Reply:
February 2nd, 2012 at 8:43 pm
Hi Jeffrey,

If you subscribe to my RSS feed that’ll be good. As for contributing I have no idea why you haven’t done so right now. Let’s see what else you have to say. In the meantime I removed comment luv on this comment of yours which contributed zero.

Cheers
Vance

[Reply]
The Frugal Dad says:

February 2, 2012 at 4:26 pm

Google+ is definitely a solid entry into the social media market, but I think at a certain point, the market is going to be saturated. Since people are already having to take classes on how to maximize their social media influence, we might see some social media sites die off because people will simply not have the time to use them
The Frugal Dad´s last [type] ..What We Think vs. What We Do: America’s Nutrition Evolution (Infographic)

[Reply]
Creazione Siti Web says:

February 6, 2012 at 5:12 am

Good Job. This article is most interesting!

Thanks

[Reply]
matt from Video Game News says:

February 6, 2012 at 9:33 am

What google really needs to do is emphasize social gaming on google+. Back in June 2011, they advertised for a “Google Games” product manager. So many of my aunts/uncles use facebook to play farmville and other casual games. Google really needs to tap into that!
matt@Video Game News´s last [type] ..Aliens: Colonial Marines Trailer and Details Emerge

[Reply]
Jay Jirasek says:

February 6, 2012 at 10:07 pm

Thanks for the Social Media info! This will certanly help me with my SEO company Megabit Marketing! Thanks again!

[Reply]
Vance Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 11:40 am
Hi Jay,

No need to put an exclamation mark after each short sentence. I have removed your link from the comment. I don’t know you and comments are meant to add value and not for free self-promotion.

[Reply]
Dave from Maine Wedding Photographers says:

February 8, 2012 at 8:51 am

I think Google+ is a huge boon for local businesses trying to rank well in the local index and in “Places” on the blended results. I think a well optimized G+ page is going to really help in that arena. On the topic of YouTube I have to say that even though it is social, the comment threads are a sewer. There are some really ignorant people on there.

[Reply]
Vance Reply:
February 11th, 2012 at 11:35 am
Hi Dave,

Thanks for commenting. Google+ is likely to be huge but so far it’s not done as much as many people expected when it first came out. It’s still early in the game though. As for YouTube there are both good and bad people there. The bad minority is very vocal so it may seem like there is too much of what you call a sewer. It helps to focus on the good stuff and ignore the rest.

[Reply]
Laura says:

February 9, 2012 at 1:59 am

Hmmm, I’ve never thought at Google this way. You wrote an interesting article.

[Reply]
Sandra from wall decals says:

February 10, 2012 at 9:33 pm

The search engine giant Google has mostly been successful in implementing new ideas.So lets see how this one turns out to be.

[Reply]