Did Google's Schmidt Say Google+ Increases Rankings?

The Drum has a sensational headline that reads Eric Schmidt confirms Google+ content is given search priority.

Eric Schmidt was the CEO of Google, now the Executive chairman of Google. So when he says things like that, it should mean something.

But what did he really say?

A Wall Street Journal blog post has snippets of what he said in his upcoming book "The New Digital Age". He said:

Within search results, information tied to verified online profiles will be ranked higher than content without such verification, which will result in most users naturally clicking on the top (verified) results. The true cost of remaining anonymous, then, might be irrelevance.

This doesn't say anything specific to Google+. It does make sense that verified information should rank higher.

I don't think this quote means either:

(1) Content within Google+ is given ranking priority or

(2) Google+ makes you rank higher.

It means, verified information can rank higher.

Forum discussion at Threadwatch.

Source: http://feeds.seroundtable.com/~r/SearchEngineRoundtable1/~3/nj6GIq1vt9M/google-search-rankings-16343.html

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