You’ve probably heard about Google+ and may have ignored it, thinking it was just a Facebook wannabe. If that’s been your attitude thus far, you may want to re-evaluate, based on what Google+ can do for your SEO.

Google+ is growing quickly and has become one of the five most important social networks. We think the “plus” in Google+ is the boost it can give your website in the search engine rankings.

Google likes the content coming from Google+ and trusts content that has been endorsed by a network of friends and followers. The fact that your friends come from you Gmail account and “+1” your content is a signal that you’re a real person and they truly enjoy your content. The same action isn’t going to happen from someone who spins content off of a junk article created for $5.00 and written by someone living in Calcutta.

When friends in your circle +1 your content, it creates credibility. It is this credibility that will help your SEO. Google can detect how many readers there are in your circles and can deduce the popularity through the audience size.

So where do you start with Google+? Here is your 3 point action action plan for Google+:

1. The first action you need to take is to get an account. A Google+ account is automatically created when you create a new Gmail account. If you don’t have a Gmail account, you need to get one a www.gmail.com.
2. Place a +1 button on your blog.

Once you’ve complete these 3 steps, contact your friends and get them to +1 your pages as much as possible. Ask them to share their content and share your content as well. If you’re seeing the possibility of link building here, you’re starting to get the picture.

Google+ may never rival Facebook to become the king of all social media, but it’s an important tool for helping you with your site’s SEO. Like Olympic medals, the winner in SEO results sometimes comes down to very, very small advantages—Google+ is one of them.

This is a guest post to the Graphics Unleashed Blog by Doug Dickson. Doug Dickson is President and Chief Energizing Officer of Print Source One, one of the Arizona’s leading printing companies. His clientele includes all of America’s largest financial and insurance companies, celebrities, as well as top professionals in the medical, plastic surgery dental and orthodontic specialties. Mr. Dickson is well known for his ability to analyze Web sites and help them achieve front page listings in Google, a process known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). He is an industry expert and has been recognized by Google as a Certified Adwords Partner.