Looking to reach more people on Google+?

Here’s a tip: #Hashtag

Google+ hashtags can add serious visibility to your content. Increasing your visibility means more people finding your stuff, even if they’re not in your selective circles.

But wait, how do Google+ hashtags work? And why do you keep calling them “Google+” hashtags… aren’t they just “hashtags”?

Not quite. When hashtags first worked their way into the Google+ world, I figured it was Google’s attempt to be cool, like twitter and Facebook. But Google did something a little different with their hashtags and that slight difference makes them much more valuable to you and your brand.

While Twitter and Facebook use hashtags for filtering status updates and tweets, Google+ uses them to create topics and connect related hashtags within trending topics.

To clarify all the nonsense I just said:

  • When you search a hashtag on Twitter or Facebook, the networks reach out and return only the tweets and updates with that specific hashtag.
  • When you search a hashtag on Google+, you’ll get a larger return on your search, as Google automatically selects hashtags and other related topics and returns them to you.

This is cool because it shows you the relevance of multiple updates and you can see the connection between different topics.

So how do we take advantage of this? Here are 3 simple things to do:

1. Hey Google, Help Me Out.

Sometimes its tough to come up with the best tags to connect to your posts. Why not let Google do some work for you? You can still add your own hashtags, but if you happen to use a tag that isn’t popular or trending, Google will add a couple extra tags to help boost the visibility of your post. (If you don’t like letting go of the power, no worries; you can tell Google to chill and it won’t add hashtags.)

2. Shared Interests = More Exposure.

Just like Facebook, Google+ uses algorithms (that no one understands) in order to decide what content you see in your home stream. Sometimes you’ll even see things from people who are out of your circle. Judging by the types of content that appear in home streams, Google uses hashtags in this algorithm.

Include a couple of hashtags in all your updates. Google will connect your updates with others that have relevant tags (whether added by the user or Google) and this will connect your updates with others with similar interests.

3. Do Some Research

Utilize Google’s connected structure by searching for hashtags and using the results to find out what related topics people are posting about. You can then add the tags they use to your future post to boost visibility. This increases your chance of connecting to a wider audience and showing up in more users’ feeds.

Challenge Accepted?

Keep these things in mind when updating your Google+ page. Track and analyze your results for the next few weeks and then email me and let me know if they have helped you continue to improve your visibility.