Even though most will see it as an anti-competitive behavior, the reality is that Google has already started to implement the integration of the Google+ brand page profiles in the primary search listings. However, it is important to highlight the fact that for the time being, this is not available for all brand pages.
Google+ and Direct Connect
According to BrightEdge researchers and other experts on the matter, this limitation can be related to the fact that other companies do not have Direct Connect enabled. In addition, even though Google representatives have not announced anything so far, the phenomenon was noticed recently on 20th of December for the notorious AT&T, one of the leading telecommunication service providers in the US.
The buzz here is that users are able to see recent posts that appear as annotations attached to the AT&T Google+ brand page, basically as a form of advertisement. Nonetheless, it is mandatory to point out that Google+ brand pages only appear when users specifically do a query on brand names. What this entails is that they will not see the profiles when their query is about products or services. For instance, when searching for AT&T, users will see its Google+ profile and recent posts. However, if they were to search for Samsung smartphones or applications, the brand page of AT&T does not appear. It is this simple fact that leads some to believe that it is not in Google’s intentions to help out on organic search results.
Brad Mattick, the expert that recently noticed the behavior, states that this is a result specific for brand pages that benefit from the Direct Connect feature. In case you did not know, the Direct Connect function helps give a leg up for + brand profiles on major social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter as well as the brand websites. Given that the link to websites and social networks is located just under the search box; this makes it act like a search result.
Is This Equivalent of Internet Explorer Being Given Away For Free?
Could this be a wake up call for all businesses out there that it is high time to make a profile and become active on Google+? Some see this approach similar to the one done by Microsoft in the 1990s to integrate Internet Explorer into the Windows operating system. Back then, the US Department of Justice accused Microsoft that it was trying to eliminate the competition posed by Netscape in the browser segment. Apparently, they were right, as very few users nowadays actually remember Netscape at all!
It may be pure speculation, but is it a pure coincidence that Google’s share of the research market includes 65.6% as of October 2011? Even though it is a bit lower than the percentage held by Microsoft in the desktop OS market in the 1990s which was 78.5%, it is still a quite large segment that cannot simply be ignored. At the same time, is it a mere accident that the Federal Trade Commission has been called to take a closer look at Google’s search business practices? Time will tell, folks!
Jeet earns his living online primarily because of Google. His link building company thrives on the fact that Google’s algorithms love links.
No comments yet.