Google just announced a very cool mobile feature that would rival anything you might find on the latest Warrior Forum offers. Seriously, if a popular marketer had released a plugin like this, we’d be lining up on the sales page to get our hands on it. No worries though, Google is the developer and there’s no cost involved – other than the technical knowhow.
Google Plus Content Recommendations for mobile is another HUGE reason to get very serious about both mobile and G+. Just like we see in Google’s personalized search, a little avatar of someone we know recommending content is a no-brainer.
I’m not going to rewrite everything Google has already put out but I will mention that the recommendations work in both iOS and Android. You can read about the details straight from Google but one thing that really stood out for me, on Google’s announcement, was this little statement;
For example: Forbes visitors can now more easily discover other Forbes articles based on Search Authorship signals and other articles with lots of Google+ activity (including +1’s and shares).
Wow, “articles with lots of Google+ activity (including +1’s and shares)”? Can you think of a better reason to get very active on Google Plus?
UPDATE: New How-To Video
We installed and activated G+ Content Recommendations this weekend and I shared the screenshots in one of this week’s hangout videos:
How To Install Google+ Content Recommendations For Mobile
How The Mobile Recommendations Work For The User
Naturally, I had to run over to Forbes.com with my Android and try this tool myself. At first, I wasn’t able to get the recommendation feature to show itself. All I was seeing was a little ad running in the footer. It turns out the Google recommendation section doesn’t display (On Forbes) until you scroll back up; at least that’s how it worked for me. So you scroll down the page a little and as soon as you scroll back up, you get the little G+ Logo in the footer (replacing the ad in this case) along with interactions from people in your circles. I haven’t tried it while logged out of Google but you are still supposed to see the recommendation when logged out.
When I clicked on the G+ logo, I was sent to a customized Google Plus feed that shows all of the Forbes.com articles posted by people I have circled.
How The Mobile Recommendations Work For You
This is pretty powerful, in my opinion. Want to try it on your blog? You have to have authorship and a Google Plus Page. You’ll also want to be active in Google Plus so if you’re still playing full time on Facebook you might want to reevaluate your strategy.
To get the content recommendations to work on your blog, you’ll need to add a line of JavaScript and then activate it in your Google+ page dashboard. You’ll also be able to make changes from your Google+ page dashboard such as how the recommendations appear and which pages they shouldn’t show up in or which recommended pages to omit. Start with Content recommendations for your mobile sites.
Is It For You?
Can you see the potential of this powerful recommendation feature? Is this something you’ll try on your blog? Wouldn’t it be cool to have it on all versions of our blog? Does this amplify the importance of Google Plus? Are you concerned about mobile traffic? I’d love to see your comments below.
About Brian D. Hawkins
Yes, sure, I think it is wise enough to check this feature out on my blog. It makes sense at least. Good article, no doubts,
If you do Evan, send me a message via my contact page and I’ll check it out on my phone.
Brian, I love this one! I hope I can figure out how to work it. What a great way to gain more traffic back to your blog and gain some recognition along the way too. I love the Forbes example. Thanks for sharing with us.
I know Lisa, it’s pretty cool that we can actually do something the megasites are doing. My mobile traffic percentage is really increasing and I was so excited about the news and example I had to share it right away. I hope to write a update post, or update this post, once I get it going on hot Blog Tips.
Very exciting news, Brian. The tech sounds a little convoluted now, in that you have to jump through some hoops to see the recommendations, but I bet Google will get this sorted out.
I definitely want to incorporate this on my website. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
I think I’m going to tackle it this weekend Carolyn so I should know how difficult it is in a day or two.
I look forward to finding out about your experience. I’d be happy to test your article for you on my mobile devices after you get it set up.
Google+ is really pushing hard to become a major player in social media. Everything seems to be moving towards cell phones these days, seems like a necessary move from Google. I’ve not used G+’s mobile app much, I’ll have to fiddle with these news tools and see how they perform. If Google+ can nail down a workable mobile experience, they could make a large impact in the not-so-distant future.
It’s true Paul, most of their big projects support or enhance Google Plus in one way or another. I think we’d be crazy to ignore mobile but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the recommendations work across all platforms and devices.
Google is really on the move! They can actually compete with Facebook toe-to-toe. It is extremely exciting to have an all-new social network on the scene that can provide competition, stimulate innovation and make the world of social networking a better place for all of us.
Hi Steve, Facebook is still the king of social right now but Google has the resources to compete. I guess we’ll have to see if Google has the right vision.
This definitely a cool tool to use. I have never used them before and it’s so much easier to find more great articles from Forbes.
This is the first time I’ve learned of this and it sounds so cool! I must try this on my smartphone later.
Thanks for sharing this stuff, Brian. You rock!
This is going to be amazing tool for any website/blog owner. Just cant wait to see the impact. Thanks Brian!
I think it is wise enough to check this feature out on my blog. It makes sense at least. Good article, no doubts,
I personally don’t have a problem with commenting system, it is specially build to be responsive and my whole website is responsive, however I have a problem with getting “WordPress” blogosphere to comment on my blog, it seems that nobody that write blog on WordPress comment on anything different that “CommentLuv” + WordPress!
Google + recommendation on smartphones? Now that’s what you call convenient. Google has made it clear that everyone from anywhere can experience what Google + can offer with or without a computer. With this, many businessmen and Google + avid users will be happy because Google just made it easy for them.
I’m still doing Facebook full-time but the raving fan G+ conversation here is chipping away at my hesitancy to bounce to another party.
Part of my hesitancy, I think comes from knowing I’m not fully maximizing Facebook’s potential, yet I’m getting AWESOME monetary AND relationship results with it, with the little time I have available and that adding a whole different channel into the mix that requires the ramp up seems like an invitation for overwhelm.
But if I keep reading stuff like this and seeing amazing results, I’ll have to make time for the G-Daddy. 🙂