Google+ & SEO

[IamnotMattCutts]

Google+ has lost one of their main guys and reports are suggesting that the Google+ teams are going to be broken down and placed on other projects. I wonder if +1's will still have an impact on the customization of individual search in the near future?

Oh and Hi - my first post; long time lurker.

[RedBar]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld IamnotMattCutts!

Do you have an attributable source for this?

[johnhh]

I read about the guy leaving this morning, I left it to someone else to post it in the Google Business section of WebmasterWorld.

Found it now [bbc.co.uk ]

_{Edited to add link to source}

[IamnotMattCutts]

[techcrunch.com...]

I was just interested in how it would impact search, if they are 'scaling back' projects and teams and using it now as a platform.

[johnhh]

I guess we all do projects that seem like a good idea but fail, just Google do it on a much larger scale.

As I don't believe Google+ ever had any impact on SERPS I don't see it ever having an impact in the foreseeable future. It will probably keep going although Google seems to have the missed the whole "social" thing.

[IamnotMattCutts]

I have seen the impact it can have (a friend in my circles +1'ed something) and it's taken preference in my search results (when signed in).

I guess it's one to watch to see what way they will go with it.

[not2easy]

There was an announcement posted yesterday: [webmasterworld.com...]

Any impact would have about the same effect as FB Likes in that it is only an effect that relates to their own circles.

[samwest]

This is a battle that will never be won using G+. Facebook has the market on social networking. Google needs to disband G+ and focus on their core business, search. Perhaps social search would have been the proper road for Google to follow, rather than try to horn in on and copy Zuckerberg's idea.

[Planet13]

I am by no means an expert on G+ (or social networks in general).

But isn't the whole thing of G+ all pretty much tied in with everything from gmail to google profile pages to google business pages?

Good chance I am confused, but it seemed to me that instead of trying to battle facebook head-to-head, google was trying to create a whole platform that was something of a facebook + linked in + yelp + angies list + thumbtack + yellow pages all in one, with G+ just being a part of it.

[IamnotMattCutts]

@Plant13 - Yes, especially local search (local listings) It's interesting to see which way they will go with things now.