Do you know that you can use Google+ as a SEO tool? One of the reasons as to why Google+ is such a SEO goldmine is because the first link that you add to the Google+ page is a DoFollow link that allows you to pass your link equity or link juice on to your website.

If you would like to optimize your website using Google+, here are tips on how you should go about it.

SEO Title

This is the name of your Google+ business page. To ensure that the page is visible to search engines, you should use your company’s name. You should also include your target keywords here.

While you should use your target keywords here, you should avoid stuffing the keywords. This is because it’s unprofessional and of little or no SEO value. The best way of going about it is mentioning the target keyword only once.

Custom page URL

Recently, Google+ rolled out a custom URL feature and you can use it to your advantage. To set the custom Google + page you need to go to your page and click ‘about.’

You should then scroll down to the links box and you will be able to see your existing URL. You should click on the link and you will get a notification asking you whether you want to convert to a new Google+ page URL.

If you need to convert your URL, you should go ahead and change it; however, if you want to maintain it, you should not tamper with it.

Google+ Authorship

This is a powerful ranking factor that few people know about. This is because Authorship tags the content that you create. The authorship also allows Google to know that you have already created new content.

There are two ways in which you can set the authorship:

If your email address matches your domain, you need to go to the Google+ authorship page and enter your email address to complete the process.

If your email address does not match your domain, you have to include a Google+ link to your profile in the author bio of your site.

If you encounter any problems in setting your authorship, you only need to visit the support section of Google and you will find all the information that you might be interested in.

Posting content

Once you have optimized everything, you should start posting content. To be on the safe side here are some guidelines that you should follow when posting content.

• Always share a summary of the content that you will be linking to. When sharing you should be careful and avoid going overboard. To be on the safe side always ensure that the content you share is short and simple.

• Never include a link in the summary box. Instead of including a link in the summary box you should place a link in the link attachment area. This is to ensure that you benefit from the DoFollow link.