Brands which sign up to Google+ Pages, designed to allow them to communicate directly with consumers, will get a major shot in the arm with their marketing messages to be displayed in Google’s search results.
Burberry, Chelsea, O2, MailOnline and Pepsi are among the first brands to sign up to the scheme, which allows Google+ account holders to add them to their own “circles”. Prefixing a search request with the “+” sign will also bring up Google+ related content.
Google senior vice-president of engineering Vic Gundotra said: “So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people. But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about – from local businesses to global brands – so today we’re rolling out Google+ Pages worldwide.”
Bradley Horowitz, vice president of product for Google+, described the addition as the “biggest product launch” on the site to date.
He claims companies would want to have a presence on Google+, which has more than 40 million members, as well as on Facebook, in order to take advantage of the network’s “unique features”.
“Google+ is a very different social network to Facebook and Twitter. Unique features such as hangouts and Google Circles, a deep integration with YouTube [which Google owns] and rich photos make it an attractive proposition for companies,” Horowitz said.
