How to Delete Google Plus

For those who may not be aware; it is time to learn how to delete Google Plus from your marketing plan because, well, it’s dead! A brief search of pretty much any term referring to Google Plus (in relation to other social media sites), using the Wordtracker keyword tool, says everything about its dwindling influence. With a mere 11,780 searches (bi-monthly) for the phrase ‘google plus’ (5,890 monthly), few, even inside Google, can ignore the fact this social media venture has turned into a disappointment of the most epic kind. If curious about why low search volume isn’t a good thing, it points out that less than 5,890 people per month (not including even lower volume, more specific queries) are searching for information on Plus and perhaps some are would-be new users.

When compared with competitors such as Facebook (14.9 million queries) and Twitter (5.6 million queries), the disparity is obvious. Having been among the original users, more than five years ago, we remember logging in for the first time and being very disappointed with the interface. This wasn’t because of some misguided expectation that Plus would WOW us out of our socks either. Nor was it based on very limited functionality as we understand beta platforms develop new functionality over time.

Here were just a few (among many), disappointing features available during this much hyped roll-out;

• Plus didn’t have its’ own custom domain name. OK; there could’ve been many reasons for this but even back then, it lacked imagination which is much needed for new social websites to remain competitive. The most successful company in the history of the world couldn’t afford a paltry $15 per year for a custom domain and chose to use a sub-domain?

• No (or vague) instructions on how it functioned. Of all failures of Plus over the years, nothing more communicated to end-users how little Google cared about its’ social media launch than this!

• Vision was never communicated to end-users. Need we elaborate on the importance of casting the vision?

• Search Marketing features were limited. Had this been any other organization, this omission would’ve been nothing more than a ‘complaint’ made by PRO Internet marketers but Google pioneered online SEO (search engine optimization) yet forgot to include this until 24 months post launch? If we may be so bold; this wasn’t just failure rather INCOMPETENCE.

• Plus was meant to ‘disrupt’ social media but became nothing more than a FORCED nuisance for business marketers. One area which social media entrepreneurs must think through is how their platform (website) is going to carve out a niche. Google Plus not only failed to do, many years on, it has yet to. Can anyone, even five years later, state exactly what niche market it serves beyond being just another ‘option’?

We teach dozens of online courses for those desiring to learn Internet marketing but one we never got around to offering was Plus. What may surprise most is the above five reasons had little to do with our decision. Mainly, since Plus failed to distinguish itself among competitors and offered no firm ‘value proposition’ for the average social media fanatic. Without this, we couldn’t hope to justify the expense or logic of investing in such a course. Put more simply; this would’ve been a waste of our resources as well as online learner’s time.

Top social networking websites have clear value propositions;

• Facebook; for recreational users, you can surround yourself with friends, play app based games as well as use other features which are engaging. For business use; Fanpages, company pages as well as advertising (mostly free) are too much for companies and organizations to resist.

• Twitter; recreational users can post quick thoughts (140 characters) or less, participate in trending discussions with no hassle or fuss. Business users enjoyed basically the same feature(s).

• LinkedIn; end-user value on this website is, arguably, greater for non-casual users than all other social websites and too numerous to list. However – LinkedIn clearly defined its value proposition as the ‘go to’ website for business professionals.

• Pinterest; this website is not only great for sharing fascinating artwork but can be an incredible traffic source for businesses. It has an easy-to-use interface, is inviting and generally engaging.

• Tumblr; business owners better jump on this corporate (free) blogging opportunity and soon! This website is content based and allows even beginners to quickly set up presence and enjoy website traffic for their efforts.

Although more could be added to this list; can you, the reader, clearly state Google Plus’ value proposition? Let’s be clear; there are a reported 120 million visits to Google+ monthly however, for Google who, at one time anyway, fancied itself a Facebook competitor, this is atrocious! Facebook receives 1 BILLION monthly visits, Twitter 500 million and LinkedIn; 300 million. With these numbers in mind; 120 million makes Google+ an absolute social media joke and Google knows it.

There are cool features such as our favorite, Hangout(s), but ‘Circles’ and other ill-conceived modules just never clicked with users. Not long ago and according to inside (Google) sources, the head of Plus has resigned and his team, re-assigned. There is a silver lining, however, for business marketers; this failure means there will no longer be a policy of ‘required’ Google+ integration to receive high search engine rankings for your websites on Google search. Among its largest mistakes, in our humble opinion, was forced integration which, in end-user language, simply means; integrate Plus into your online presence ‘or else’. We’ve already mentioned business website integration leading to better rankings but another and more recent of these heavy handed tactics was forcing Youtube videos onto end-user’s Google Plus profile. This action violates one of the most sacred social media principles; CHOICE.

If you have a Youtube channel as well as a Google Plus profile – we encourage you to go and take a look because chances are uploaded videos are on your Plus profile. Did you give permission for the share? What happened to the imagination brought to bear on Gmail which is the greatest free email service ever conceived? Hey Google; end-users have spoken and with a collective voice do announce; may the disaster and ‘annoyance’ that was Google+ R.I.P.!


B.D. Dale
Small Business Development Center