While Google’s launch into the social networking world may not have been a total success from the get go it is clear that Google intends it to stick around. Not just as a social network, but as a hub for all that is Google. If you’ve been hoping Google+ was going to go away you should probably drop that mentality and start paying attention. Here are just four reasons why you shouldn’t ignore the search engine giant’s social network.

1. The rolling of Google Places into Google+ Local – which ultimately will completely merge with Google+ business pages. While you currently have to manually merge your pages it is only a matter of time before this becomes automatic (after Google figures out all the bugs of course).

2. Google authorship. Need we say more? You have to have a Google+ profile to even utilize this and if you are a regular contributor to blogs it is a must. Why would you pass up the opportunity to have your smiling face show up next to your blog posts and/or articles in search results?

3. Google+ Sign-In which was just revealed this week. It’s clear Google is working towards connecting all things to Google.

4. Social signals play a role in search results rankings. While we don’t know how all the magic works we do know there is a correlation between social and SERPs. Since Google+ is Google’s baby there is no doubt it’s an important factor.

While it can be cumbersome to stay on top of all the social networks out there it is important to make sure you’re paying attention to the right ones. Google+ should be viewed as less of a social network and more of a search engine optimization tool. It’s only a matter of time before you don’t have the option to ignore it anymore.