How to use "Google search plus your world" for great business PR

Search giant Google recently launched its latest version of it's world dominating search - "Google search plus your world" (Gs+yw). Gs+yw integrates the social Google+ platform with Google search to bring you a hybrid of traditional search results mixed with personalized search results - socialized search.

The idea being that you are far more likely to want to read relevant information from someone you know than someone you don't.

Of course, Google+'s integration into Google search uses a softly, softly approach. Google+ results are only shown if you are logged in because Google+ can't tell who you are following otherwise. You are also allowed to prevent Google+ results from being included in your search results. So don't panic if you aren't yet signed up to Google+.

Advantages of "Google search plus your world" for business

What makes Google search plus your world really interesting from the point of view of small businesses, marketers, PR people, entrepreneurs, and anyone wanting to use the Internet for business purposes, is the incredible opportunity for making the right business connections it represents.

When you search for information you need, (and assuming you have a Google+ account and are logged in at the time of said search), Google will now include content results from the people you are following on Google+ as well as people it believes are experts in that field.

In one step, Google has now made it possible to find and follow all the best people in your niche and industry. Because Google+, like twitter, allows anyone to follow anyone without requiring permission, you can add potentially important contacts to your Google+ circles by literally searching on the information they provide.

If you take the view that following someone is the first step in the process of engaging with them and converting them into a business contact (which is really the whole point of social media from the point of view of business), then Gs+yw is going to become one of the most powerful PR tools for businesses and entrepreneurs - if not, the PR tool.

Using Google search plus your world to build your network of contacts

Here's a short process for how to go about using Gs+yw to find valuable business contacts:

1. If you haven't already, create a Google+ account
2. Create a circle called "business connections", or whatever you like
3. Once you are logged in, go to Google and search for things that are relevant to your business
4. Along with the traditional search results, you will notice results prefixed with a small blue icon - they are also accompanied by the author's Google+ profile picture and name
5. If the content is relevant and interesting, hover over the person's name and add them to your business connections circle
6. Repeat

If you make this process part and parcel of your normal search, you will start to build up a great resource for business knowledge that is absolutely relevant and helpful to you. What more you can now go to Google+ and start interacting with all these industry experts by commenting on their posts, hanging out and sharing stuff.

Using Google search plus your world to drive traffic

Finding people using Google+ and Google search is only one side of the coin. It's just as easy to bring value to your business by reversing the process. Keep writing great, focused and relevant content and sharing those articles and posts on Google+. The content you contribute will ultimately end up being displayed in Gs+yw, allowing other people to find your content and connect with you.

One of the greatest advantages of Gs+yw in terms of gaining exposure from content marketing and blogging is that it allows you to leapfrog your SEO. Instead of writing articles that have to work their way up to the front page in traditional search, you can instead have your content displayed in Google search plus your world by using Google+.

While this means that you are going to have to spend some time building up your network of Google+ contacts, it will ultimately mean that (provided you are a genuine contributor of good content) you are better positioned to gain organic search exposure because you no longer have to compete with highly paid and resourced SEO experts.

From the point of view of small business and entrepreneurs, I believe that Google search plus your world is going to help level the playing field when it comes to gaining exposure and placing highly in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

If you have any other techniques or tips for how best to use Gs+yw for business, please feel free to share them in the comments below.

Oh, and don't forget to connect with me on Google+ :)