Blogs

Do You Show Up In Google Social Search Results?

You may have noticed a new feature on Google search results pages that show related content from your social circle.

These additional results show up if you are logged in to GMail or other Google services. You may recognize a link to your friend’s blog post or someone you follow on Twitter.

Here is an example search result from my social circle:

Exploring Your Google Social Circle

Google has provided a dashboard which contains comprehensive details on your entire social circle.

From the same page you can also confirm if your content is appearing within social results.

5 Ways to Get Your Content to Appear

There are a few simple, yet important methods for getting your content to appear on social results. Follow the tips below to boost exposure to your content.

1. Setup your Google Profile and add links to your websites
   This is the most important method for having your content to appear within social circles. Simply edit your profile and add links to your blogs, other social profiles and websites.
2. Connect with people on Google Buzz
   Networking on Buzz will quickly add people to your social circle.
3. Encourage adding your RSS feed to Google Reader
   When your readers add your blog feed to Google’s RSS reader, that content has a chance of appearing in social results.
4. Add other social profile links and grow those networks
   Almost all of the social circle results I’ve encountered come from a connection on Twitter (shown in above screenshot). Add links to your YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr profiles for instant connections with your friends on those networks.
5. Email your associates and friends with GMail
   When you email people using GMail, they are added to your contacts. If those individuals also use GMail they will appear in your Chat Contacts and are further added to your social circle.

Thank you for reading. Please connect with me on Google so that I might discover your content as well!