(Entry was posted by Rotimi Orimoloye on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 08/20/2013).

Is it a kind of Search Engine Optimization when G+ posts appears in my search result?

I was recently in an argument....
So If I were to do a search on Google.com, while logged in; and say Gplus posts by +Ian Dixon and +Alistair Lattimore were to appear in my Search Results (i.e. search+ personalization),
would you say that the principle at work here IS, or IS NOT a kind of Search Engine Optimization?
And why?

thanks!

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YOUR ANSWERS

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

Rand Wilson: IMHO that is a form of SEO and as more and more people start using G+ or are at least logged-in while searching, it will become more and more important to increase your following so you can float to the top of those personalized searches.
Erik Deckers: Yes, that is a form of SEO, because you're still optimizing, only now it's via search engines.
Thomas Rosenstand: Of course it is SEO. The world need to embrace the fact that SEO is a 360 degree discipline that involves what ever makes you visible to the public AND make your visitors convert.
Rotimi Orimoloye: Thanks guys!

I also felt it was a no-brainer.
...Until some "expert dude" came up with some concept he called Social Public Relations or SPR (somehow I just keep forgetting that I planned to Google it ever since).

Anyway, this guy says it is not SEO, but this SPR.
And I asked, "...even if the posts have relevant information and contain links to the websites in question"???

NO! he insists.

He did however say that SPR was good for branding terms (not 100% sure I know what that means) and driving traffic. But not useful for SEO in particular. Ruling out SEO as a broad discipline I guess. He also implied that this SPR principle was not exclusive to Google+, but also present in Facebook & Twitter as well.
Ian Dixon: If your logic is accurate +Rand Wilson ;then we can soon expect all the link builders to turn into G+ follower builders and G+ circle builders.
Or is that already happening
I think +Rotimi Orimoloye ;that we are all now building a media presence. It can get very complicated with all the different things that need to be considered. ;Perhaps the web is now simply becoming a part of the world media just like TV and radio
Alistair Lattimore: On top of 'optimising' a website in a traditional sense, SEO as a discipline is about looking for opportunities and testing to see if an opportunity actually exists.

In the case of your example, if Google decide to put Google+ forward like they are - it is the job of an SEO to notice those changes in the SERPs and work out of there is an opportunity.

Flipping your question on its head, I'd you did the same search but no content from Google+ was present, the obvious opportunity in the SERPs isn't there. That doesn't mean you ignore Google+, there could be lots of other reasons to leverage Google+ for SEO reasons that has nothing to do with Google+ content showing up in personalised/non-personalised search results.