Google has just launched its Google+ Pages for brands, and Angry Birds, Mumsnet and Burberry are some of the first brands to launch their profiles. 

Google+ Pages are the search engine giant’s answer to Facebook Pages, and Bradley Horowitz, vice-president of product, said it was the “biggest product launch on the site to date”. Google+ currently has more than 40 million members. 

Horowitz believs that companies will be drawn to Google+ by its unique features such as Hangouts, Google Circles and full integration with Google-owned YouTube. 

Vice-president of Engineering, Vic Gundotra wrote in a blog post. “Today’s launch of Google+ Pages can help people transform their queries into meaningful connections, so we’re rolling out two ways to add pages to circles from Google search.”

Google is testing a feature called Direct Connect, which will allow people to call up an organisation’s Google+ Page by adding a “+” before the name in Google Search. So, a search for + Mumsnet, will take the user straight to the organisation’s Google+ Page not the search results page. 

It’s a compelling prospect for brands to have users funnelled straight to their Google+ page without the distraction of other search results or third-party sites. 

To help businesses get started, Google has also launched Google+ Your Business – a how-to for companies on how to set up their accounts.  

Posted by 

Neil Turner