What Not to Do With Your Google+ Profile

People have been flocking to Google+, which is quickly becoming a favorite social media platform. Google+ is an incredible way of meeting new people, connecting with prospective customers, and building more ties with your consumers.

Many businesses don’t quite get it yet being a huge site with regular updates and all, but Google+ is a great tool for advertising and social media marketing. That said, many companies and individuals still make a lot of common mistakes. To take full advantage of the social media platform, here are some of the common mistakes people make on Google+ and how to avoid them.

Not Completing Your Profile

What’s the point of using G+ if you’re not going to provide any information about you or your company? It’s really easy to set up a profile or company page. It’s the same as making a business page on Facebook where you need to sign up for a personal account to create a business site. You’ll have to categorize your business, provide its location, which is very important for Google Places and local searches, and so on.

While it’s ok to post as yourself, too, do remember to include your company’s site. Otherwise, you’re missing out on the opportunity to link back to it, reference it, and do all those little things that boost your business profile and SERP ranking. Also, don’t forget to include your business keywords in your tagline and introduction, your website, and location if you have a store.

Google is already giving you the opportunity to include and promote all your other social site links, so use it. All of these add up to give you better SEO.

Stuffing Keywords in Your Profile

Don’t stuff keywords into your G+ profile. It’s a really old marketing trick and one that just doesn’t cut it with Google’s semantic search. Google is now ranking pages based on the best quality and relevant content. Stuffing your profile with keywords like “wedding gowns, wedding gowns, wedding gowns,” is not cool. Google sees this as most of us would—as spam. It’s best to write for your customers, not for SEO. Your audience will appreciate it, and so will Google.

Not Using the Circles

G+’s Circles feature allows you to sort people you follow. For businesses, this is a chance to send out targeted posts to your target circles or connections. You can, for example, make Circles for in-store customers, online customers, partners, colleagues, or co-workers, and send them each targeted updates.

Google is the authority when it comes to search rankings, and so it’s only natural to follow and understand their updates. Make sure you use them and use them well.