Google+ Shutdown: Reasons and its Impact on SEO
On June 28, 2011, Google launched a social network named Google+. Here's what its shutdown meant for search engine optimization.
On June 28, 2011, Google launched a social network named Google+, more famously known as G+. Google operated it in an endeavor to compete with other social media networks. G+ was used to link other Google products like YouTube, Google Drive, and Blogger. The network encountered robust growth in its starting years.
Whenever Google does something, it makes headlines. The potential shutdown of G+ caused public reaction since people were frightened to lose their stored data. It would also affect search engine optimization, digital marketing strategies, and much more. Many possible reasons led to the sudden shutdown of G+:
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Google found a bug in the system back in 2018 that they assumed could have led to a data breach.
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G+ was announced as a social media platform to challenge others like Facebook and Twitter. But the total quantity of users was comparatively less than other social platforms.
Google was quiet regarding the flaw in their API. It is generally supposed that 500,000+ users had their profile details visible without consent. The choice to stay silent caught the attention of cybersecurity officials since laws in California and Europe require a company to disclose a security episode. Google declared in a blog post that no one obtained access to user details and no evidence was found that any user profile data was misused.
The G+ shutdown impacted several areas of work, and SEO was one of them.
The Effect of G+ Shutdown on SEO
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Social signals play a vital role in spreading awareness for a website and creating authority to better its SERP rankings.
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The aggregate shares for top-ranking websites are somewhat higher. Shutting down G+ is similar to losing a link in the sequence. Top-ranking content mostly had the maximum G+ shares.
Google introduced the plus one button for websites in 2011. Some said they used them as ranking signals, but Google did not accept this and defended by saying they had never used Google+ or plus ones as a ranking signal.
G+ began as a blooming project but suffered a slow death, with no enthralling features to provide. Google strived to make people use it by highlighting Google+ content in search results and Google News. But after some time it became a key reason for laughter in the SEO community.
Through a blog post, Google announced the closing of the social network, explaining that it did not gain fame and acceptance despite all efforts. Every user had time until August 2019 to save their data. Google said it would offer tools for users to download or transfer their data. Google might make new features or products, but only for the business sector, as their exceptional attention was to offer enterprise facilities.