For the ordinary man, Google is just a synonym for the internet. For us, people who work at home, Google is the super-power of the web. We follow in tension after any activity and “warrant”. In the authority of the super-power Google to sentence online businesses, from the smallest one to the biggest corporations.

The War

For several years, Google is at war with its number one enemy- Spam. This is a war that intended for defending its number one conquer, the search. The spam is in a way an enemy Google created itself- Most of the spam derived from marketing methods to promote in Google. Google fights in a few fronts:

1. First and foremost, the company tried to educate and encourage webmasters to create web pages at high standards. On the spearhead of this front stands Matt Cutts.

2. Another front is the technological front. Google states that its integrating 300 new algorithm changes every year. Additionally, its developing new major filters and updates, as the Panda update measurement tool that being updated every month or two since its launch.

3. The last field Google is working at to fight spam (and to improve search relevancy) is “personalized results” which i now elaborate about.

Personalized Results

It began by localizing the results. Google is adjusting the results according to the user geographic location (by IP). If you search for something in Germany, it will probably be different from results in Brazil… It serves also the online business owners, that can turn to their specific audiences.

The next stage of personalized results was by adjusting them according the user history saved in his Google account.

Social Media Era

Then, social networks were born and a new age of personalization has opened. Social networks are offering the best personalization for the users, because the basic assumption is that i am sharing something with a personal interest.

This is how social metrics have been established and are now about 7% of all search factors (according to the Search Engine Ranking Factors Survey). From now, results are not only personal, but also social.

The Trojan Horse Of Google

The different methods of personalized results have two major failures that Google tries to deal will today:

1. Google don’t have control and sometimes access to the user social account. It means less personalized results.

2. Currently, there is a major discrimination for the benefit of established websites and big brands. There are much better chances to share some information from a major website than share the same one from a small blog even if it has more quality.

The new product of Google – Google Plus, was designated to respond for at least part of these failures.

Google solve the first failure by having its own social network and gain the full control and access over it. So far it seems its going to succeed doing it- Many different online resources are calling it “the fastest growing social network”.

In The Facade Of The Revolution

We are, work from home business owners, are standing in the front of this Google war and apparently also, a revolution. Very soon, it might be that most users will be connected constantly to their Plus account and will see different results from the ones we are competing so hard on.

But Don’t Worry! Google is giving us the tools to compete again! Very soon we could open our business accounts (along all others) on Plus and a new battle of work at home will begin!

What Do We Do With Our Business Account?

– Operate The Account – Creating rich content for the users that fits especially to social network (discussion, photos, videos) and gathering as much “followers” as we can.

– Revealing New Contents – One of the main influences of social networks is better discovery and indexing new contents. Sharing our site’s contents socially will result better and faster indexing.

– Using “Sparks” – Google Plus offer a feature called “Sparks”, that presents to the user relevant information for him. You can define your brand for certain keywords to be presented there.

– Encourage +1’s – Similar to the familiar Like or Tweet buttons, Google has a +1 button. Encourage people to click on your +1 buttons by placing them in obvious places and even say “If you liked it, +1 us!”

It Doesn’t Replace The Algorithm!

Social signals are not going to replace the algorithm! They will probably take a bigger part than the 7% of today, but it will remain as only a part of it. So combine it in your general work from home strategy but don’t neglect other efforts like creating content and SEO!