Sunday, September 16, 2012

Verifying blogs and their Google+ pages

This quick-tip describes verifying Google+ pages, based on a recent post in the Inside AdSense blog.

Verifying Google+ pages is about making an official link between a page and a website, as a way of getting exposure for both the site and the page.

For some reason it was recently described in the InSide Adsense blog (thought I'm not sure what it's got to do with AdSense), where they say

Verifying your +page confirms that the +page actually belongs to you. Once your +page is verified, it’ll appear with a checkmark designed to help our users find what they’re looking for.
and

Verified +pages that are popular and engaging may appear on the right side of relevant Google.com search results, for users who are logged in. .... Please keep in mind that to be eligible, the +page also needs to be active with regularly-updated content

To verify your page, you need to
  1. Link your +page to your website: Fill out the ‘About’ section of your Google+ page, being sure to enter your site’s top-level URL.
  2. Link your website to your +page: Add a Google+ badge or code snippet to your site, ...
  3. Complete ... [the]  verification request form.
  4. ... continue posting regularly to your +page ....

The verification form, at http://support.google.com/plus/bin/request.py?hl=en&contact_type=page_verification&rd=1 states the conditions a little differently (boldness mine);
  • Your Google+ page must be authorized by your commercial entity, organization, brand, or product.
  • Your Google+ page’s profile must contain a link to your organization’s website.
  • Your organization’s website must connect to your Google+ page, by adding the Google+ badge or by adding a snippet of code.
  • A meaningful number of people must have added your Google+ page to their circles.


This should be simple enough for most of my sites - I own the website and the G+ page.   Though it should be a little more challenging for one or two community groups that I do things for, where the ownership is a little ore "vague".

However I guess it depends on what "a meaningful number" means:   I tried doing it for my Blogger-HAT page, and just got a message saying:

Dear User, We’ve reviewed your verification request. Unfortunately we’re unable to verify your page at this time. For more information regarding our guidelines governing verification, please consult the verification request form at http://www.google.com/support/plus/bin/request.py?contact_type=extended_verification If you have any further questions please consult the Google+ help center at http://www.google.com/support/plus/?hl=en-US&p=help_center Thanks, Google+ Support Team

This was pretty unhelpful - it doesn't tell me whether I've got the page / site links wrong, or whether there aren't a meaningful number of +1s yet.

I'm wondering if anyone knows what might count as "meaningful"?

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