If you think Twitter became huge, just imagine what’s in store for Google+, the social network created by a company that refuses to let huge projects like this fail. I’m guessing you, like most of us, would have joined Twitter in the early days if you had known what it would turn into. Luckily you have a second chance, a chance to join & interact on a platform that will surpass Twitter on all standards.
If you don’t think you’re totally sold on Google+ just yet, here’s the worst thing you could do by adding the following People & Pages to your circles: you’ll get to gain more knowledge & insight into SEO and the current state of the industry, and you’ll be able to build up your relationships with the most influential people in SEO.
So, without further adieu, here are the 50 people & pages to add to your Google+ Circles to get news, tips, and advice on all things Search Engine Optimization.
NOTE: I only featured pages & people that post frequently. Others might join this list later on as Google+ becomes more popular and more easy to manage with third party tools.
Pages
1. Search Engine Land+ – Great way to keep updated on the latest search news via this new platform.
2. SEOmoz+ – If you haven’t checked out Whiteboard+ yet, it’s a series of videos by Rand Fishkin that’s exclusive to Google+. This is by far one of the best sources for high quality, original content on Google+.
3. Marketing Land+ – One of the best providers of search news & articles from around the Web. If you didn’t know, Sphinn became Marketing Land in late November.
4. Search Engine Watch+ – Get updates from yet another top tier search engine, SEO, and SEM news site.
5. Mashable+ – With over 225,000 followers, Mashable is one of the most influential Pages on Google+, as well as a great provider of up to the minute social media news & tips.
6. Google’s Page – I don’t think I need to explain why you should add this one to your circles (at least I hope not…).
7. Google+’s Page - This is the official Page of Google+. Stay updated with the latest news on Google+ straight from the source.
8. Point Blank SEO+ - I don’t like to toot my own horn, but I’m proud to say I’m one of the few Pages that posts on a daily basis, as well as the only Page that consistently posts links to content about link building.
9. StumbleUpon+ – See what’s going viral on the Web. If you’re a great SEO, you’re taking notes on what they’re choosing to post about, because if it’s getting posted on StumbleUpon, there’s not a bad chance it’s bringing in a boatload of links too.
10. SEO Book+ – Stay connected with the beloved blog of Aaron Wall. Although the blog doesn’t post as frequently anymore, you’ll still find some fantastic content.
11. Hubspot+ – Inbound marketing is starting to become one with SEO, so make sure you get the best content on the subject from one of the top inbound marketing software companies.
12. Google Chrome+ – If you use Chrome as much as me, here’s a great place to get updates on what Google is doing with this browser.
13. Technorati+ – This is one of the best ways to get updates on the blogosphere as a whole. Like StumbleUpon, you can use this to find what kind of content people are sharing.
14. SEOgadget+ – A great way to stay updated with SEOgadget, a buzz-worthy blog that’s been growing more and more popular.
15. Raven Tools+ – This is one of the few tools that almost all SEOs should have in their arsenal. They’ve recently been providing Hangouts so they can hear from their customers, so if you’re a Raven Tools fan, this is a great chance to get connected with their staff and get updates on the tool.
16. Copyblogger+ – Brian Clark’s Page for his blog. If you’ve ever read a post over at Copyblogger then you know it’s a Page worth adding to your circles.
17. Majestic SEO+ – A great way to keep updated on a tool that more SEOs are starting to use after Yahoo! Site Explorer left us.
18. SEO By The Sea+ – Keep up to date with the latest patents & rumors in search via Bill Slawski.
19. G+ Business Pages Directory+ – A great resource that not enough people know about. Easily find other Google+ Pages based on the circles this Page shares. For example, here’s a circle of all the Martial Arts themed G+ Pages.
20. Google+ Your Business+ – Yo dawg, I heard you like Google+ Pages, so I made a Google+ Page about Google+ Pages. Well, I didn’t, but the good folks at Google did.
21. Distilled+ – A great way to stay connected with the Distilled blog. Distilled is one of the few companies I trust 100% because of their world class consultants, and since they’re the ones writing up the content (most of the time), you know it’s going to be worth the read.
22. SEER Interactive+ – Keep updated with the SEER Interactive blog, one of my favorite reads because of the original tips & analysis Wil Reynolds and his team provides.
23. Vertical Measures+ – A great resource for finding awesome link building content.
24. Dejan SEO+ – One of the few Australian SEO blogs that provides unique insight into all things SEO and inbound marketing.
25. Traffic Generation Café+ – This is Ana Hoffman‘s Page for her blog. I’ve been fairly impressed with the links she’s been sharing.
People
26. Rand Fishkin+ – the founder & CEO of SEOmoz and a provider of fresh, unique opinions on the state of search.
27. Danny Sullivan+ – the editor at Search Engine Land who covers Google, SEO, PPC, and search engine marketing.
28. Matt Cutts+ – the head of Google’s Webspam team. Matt is the closest thing to an SEO at Google, and because Google+ is a Google product, he’ll be using it a lot more to talk & share.
29. Joost de Valk+ – WordPress & web developer known for his awesome on-site SEO tips and tricks. Also the creator of the Yoast SEO plugin.
30. Barry Schwartz+ – the CEO of RustyBrick, founder of Search Engine Roundtable, and news editor at Search Engine Land. Barry has been doing SEO for over 8 years.
31. Wil Reynolds+ – the founder of SEER Interactive and a highly talented link builder. Wil is a provider of fresh, original ideas for link building.
32. Aaron Wall+ – the founder & CEO of SEOBook. Aaron doesn’t post much, but if Google+ becomes increasingly popular, look for him to update his stream with a lot more insight.
33. Avinash Kaushik+ – Digital marketing evangelist for Google. Avinash is best known for his expertise in Web Analytics.
34. Matt McGee+ – the executive news editor for Search Engine Land. Matt is usually one of the first people covering a new developing story in the search industry.
35. Michael Gray+ – SEO blogger at Wolf-Howl.com. Michael provides some great insight into all areas of SEO and affiliate marketing.
36. Todd Malicoat+ – SEO who blogs over at Stuntdubl.com. Todd has laid low for a little while, but he still provides some interesting, unique insight.
37. Eric Ward+ – Old school link builder and creator of the Link Moses newsletter. Eric is one of the most well respected link builders in the industry.
38. Bill Slawski+ – SEO blogger at SEOByTheSea.com. His research into search patents is quite remarkable, and I suggest adding both his blog’s page and him to your circles, as he posts to both.
39. Will Critchlow+ – Director of Distilled, an SEO consulting agency. Will’s expertise and experience that comes with working at Distilled helps him provide some awesome advice and tips.
40. Ian Lurie+ – Internet marketer at Portent Interactive and SEO blogger at Conversation Marketing. Yet another guy that is labeled as a “must” in having in your circles.
41. Neil Patel+ – Co-founder of Crazy Egg & Kissmetrics and blogger at QuickSprout.com. Neil usually talks about blogging and growing your business.
42. John Doherty+ – SEO Consultant with Distilled in NYC who blogs on JohnfDoherty.com and SEOmoz.org. John is an SEO that actively blogs about new, actionable SEO tips and strategies.
43. Tom Critchlow+ – VP of Operations with Distilled in NYC. Tom is the brother of Will, and provides the same quality of insight as his brother.
44. Richard Baxter+ – Founder of SEOgadget. Richard is a well respected contributor to the SEOmoz community.
45. Cyrus Shepard+ – SEOmoz associate and blogger. Cyrus is an SEO writes posts for SEOmoz as well as for his own blog on cyrusshepard.com.
46. Ben Wills+ – Founder & CEO of Ontolo. Ontolo is a fantastic set of link building tools, and the man behind it all is Ben. Ben also blogs on Ontolo.
47. Ross Hudgens+ – SEO manager at Full Beaker who also blogs on RossHudgens.com. Ross is one of the brightest minds in link building in my opinion.
48. Andrew Shotland+ – SEO blogger at LocalSEOGuide.com. If you ever need tips and advice on local SEO, Andrew is your guy.
49. Dixon Jones+ – Marketing director at Majestic SEO. Majestic is slowly becoming a more popular toolset, and Dixon provides some great insight into both it and SEO.
50. Gianluca Fiorelli+ – Italian SEO blogger at ILoveSEO.net. Gianluca is an active member of the SEOmoz community, and he’s one the most well known international SEOs.
Is there any Google+ page or person you would add to this list? Please let me know in the comments below!
Thanks for reading! Make sure you add my page to your circles to consistently get link building news & articles straight to your G+ stream.
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This post was written by...
Jon Cooper – who has written 83 posts on Point Blank SEO.
Jon Cooper+ is an SEO consultant from Tarpon Springs, FL who specializes in link building. For more information on him and Point Blank SEO, visit the about page. Follow him on Twitter.
{ 48 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Jon, are there really no women in the SEO industry?
I too realized shortly after I published this that there were no women! But the main reason a lot of highly respected women in the industry (Rae Hoffman, Julie Joyce, Debra Mastaler, etc.) didn’t make the list was because a lot of them don’t update their Google+ profiles very often.
Thanks for the comment Tad!
LOLOL really? I see Debra on G+ every day.. actually I see quite a few “SEO” women that update their Google pages everyday. Nice try, but it’s not going to fly. With that said, you can of course do as you wish, but please don’t lie to cover your faux pas.
That is quite a list! You forgot one though, me…. Just kidding. I would have to say most of those I was already following, but you did have some gems in there that I added.
Thanks Jon!
What?! I forgot you?
Thanks Michael! Glad to see you back here on the blog!
Very nice list. I have a lot of these people on my Twitter account, didn’t have nearly half of them on my Google+ account. Thanks for bringing that to my attention, I was totally slacking over there
I was too until I created this list, so don’t feel too bad
You know, I read this post and it made me realize that I need to stop whining about how Google Plus sucks, and actually use it. This is a great resource so thank you, even though I feel like a big loser now. Ha!
I too was against Google+ for a short while, but when I realized that in 3 years it could be huge, I knew I should take advantage while I could.
Thanks for the comment Julie
Hey, Jon:
This post provided me with 3 invaluable resources:
1. Great people/pages to follow.
2. G+ page directory – I’ve been looking for something like that!
3. The honor of being included on the list in such great company and adding the female touch that it needed!
Thank you!
Glad I could help. I honestly went through a ton of pages, and from the beginning you were a lock. You were one of the few that actually posts regularly
I know, it’s hard to find active pages for some reason…
With such tremendous growth at G+ reports, you’d think more people would be actually USING it, huh?
That was my first thought, but this answers that question perfectly:
There are no 3rd party management tools yet.
When huge companies and account start posting regularly and easily with these tools, everyone else will follow.
It’s not a time to say something about Google+, the development of such project is a matter of time, the way it was with Myspace or Twitter. But I don’t think that such company as Google will involve in “silly project management”
“The Hacker News” under 11. is actually not THE HN
What goes under HN (the startup community) is http://news.ycombinator.com/ and “The Hacker News” is http://www.thehackernews.com – security website.
Oops, good catch Visnja! I’ll see if I can find the HN I’m looking for
I doubt that Hacker News would have a Google+ page any time soon. Not an official one, at least.
Agreed, it’s not like them to do something like that.
Thanks for putting this together and including Vertical Measures in your list.
Thanks for stopping by Arnie! I’m a huge fan of the VM blog
Great list to take note of and start the year out right. Need to follow all these blogs and knowledgeable people!
Thanks Ardala! Me too – I was slackin on G+ until I got around to this post. Hopefully these people will start posting a little more often too!
Thanks for the list Jon. Followed everyone on the list. It will be great if you could make a similar list for Twitter too.
Thanks Naren! I’ll definitely consider it
. The only issue is that most of the names will be the same!
Very few women… Eek! What about Ann Holland of Which Test Won and Marketing Sherpa?
There are more of us out there. Trust me.
I know Pat
. Shortly after this was published, I realized there were no women! I didn’t want to go back and change out some of the names, but I do want you to know, as you said, there are a ton of awesome female SEOs I left out, and in no way do I discriminate against them. It was just an honest mistake!
Thanks Pat for the comment! I’ll keep a lookout for you & some of the names you mentioned
Jon,
Great post!!! first decent compiled list I have seen!
Thanks Jonny
Glad to see you like it!
Nice list Jon, to be honest I spent so much time in the list, I forgot how I found it LOL…. oh well, got you in my circles and in my Reader.
Cheers,
Keith
Thanks Keith! And who knows? this post got much more exposure than I was expecting
Hi Jon, As to why a lot of us (regardless of gender) don’t update our Google+ profiles very often… TIME. Any thoughts on whether Google+ will eventually replace any of the existing mainstream social media tools? I realize some of that is going to depend on the availability of easy-to-use and highly functional 3rd party tools. But assuming those catch-up, is there anything you think now, will likely dwindle?
When I first started using Twitter, I never used it because “I just didn’t have the time for something that costs so much if it.” Now I post to twitter 5-6 times a day.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that it takes time getting used to, and when more people join it, there’s more potential for it becoming the standard. Also, as you said, once 3rd party tools develop, industry leaders will follow, and with them, the masses will follow.
I might sound crazy, but I think Pinterest (don’t know whether this counts) will start to make it bigger, but I don’t see it getting any more hype than it has now. I think it’s in the middle of it’s 15 minutes of fame. I think Twitter & Facebook will battle G+ in the future, but that’s at least 2-3 years down the line. For now, G+ is still growing, so don’t look for it to knock anyone out the market anytime soon.
Well all information was in detail. Lot of people here talk about G+ and I’m sure Google will try hard to overcome the market of Facebook. Its seems little bit difficult but not possible. Lets see what happened in future ?
Exactly. Only time will tell!
Thanks for the comment
Such a great list to follow!!!
And you website is very good also1!!
Thanks Helen!
If I’m correct, I’m glad to see someone from the awesome country of Brazil on my blog
You are right, i’m from Brasil! And from now i’ll visit very often!
I’m glad you answer so fast! ‘Cause in Brasil usually we dont have answer from experienced people in Link building and seo!!!
Glad to hear from you!
Thanks Helen! From what I’ve heard, most non-english speaking countries have this problem
That was an awesome list…Will add all of them in my Google+ circle for future News update from them..thnxxx a lot for sharing with Us
I’ve done this and i can guarantee you will have great content !!!
What Helen said!
That’s a great list, but what i would suggest you is to share the complete circle with us, as it will be a tedious job to add them one by one.
I agree – sharing a circle would have made what I just did a lot easier. Thanks for the list, though.
Sorry Eric
. Next time I do a G+ roundup, I’ll definitely make it a circle.
Did you ever end up making this a circle? That would be nice…
This is a great post, and inspiring enough to actually make me login to Google+ and add some people.
Thanks so much. I can’t wait for a twitter and/or facebook list. Maybe even a list for digg/stumble/reddit etc. Thanks again for a great idea and a reason to start seriously using G+!!!
LOLOL really? I see Debra on G+ every day.. actually I see quite a few “SEO” women that update their Google pages everyday. Nice try, but it’s not going to fly. With that said, you can of course do as you wish, but please don’t brush this under the rug or blame Google + to cover your faux pas.
I thought it was something what happened just in Brasil…
However is more than this!!!
Glad you answer!!!