At the Inside Social Apps conference in San Francisco today, Google+ director of engineering David Glazer said that the company will integrate personal Google+ pages into many aspects of your online experience.
If you want to see how your Google+ page already affects search results, click the “personal results” tab at the top of the screen the next time you perform a Google search. Glazer explained in his interview: “The obvious insight is that people care about other people so that should be baked into what you do while you’re online. The reasons Google+ is named that is we didn’t think of it as “Oh we want to add another product.” We wanted to up the game to help our users.”
Even if you don’t use Google+ regularly, writers, publishers and publishing professionals should have a strong Google+ profile to improve these search results. Below, we’ve reprinted five common Google+ profile mistakes. If you avoid these problems, you will build a stronger following and help readers find you online.
5 Google+ Profile Mistakes to Fix
1. Personal tagline too long: Google gives you a short tagline spot under your name to fill with a concise description of yourself. If your tagline is too long, it will trail off in ellipses, confusing the first time reader. Keep it short and sweet so the whole tagline fit
2. No link to your personal site in your profile: Google offers you the great opportunity to include hyperlinks in your “About” section. Add a few quick links connecting to your personal site and other places people can find you online.
3. No picture in your profile: People are looking for your profile, not a box with a shadow in the middle. Show us what you look like.
4. No location data in your profile: Google+ has all sorts of useful features tied to your location. In addition, a simple city and state listing helps people identify with you as well.
5. Profile not visible in Google search: At the bottom of your “About” page, check the “Profile discovery” section. Make sure it reads: “Profile visible in search.” This is the only way people will find you and your work online–a valuable way to make sure your name and work get recognized by the massive search engine.
Editor’s Note: This post was updated as the story evolved.