Today we’ve begun wrapping up our top posts of 2012 series here on Marketing Land and our sister site, Search Engine Land. In the next few days we’ll be sharing some of the most popular stories from 2012, including some of the most read, most tweeted and the most liked on Facebook. To get us started we’ve pulled together the most popular stories shared on Google+.

To gather the data we used Social Crawlytics, a free tool that crawls any site analyzes each URL to show how it’s been shared on the most popular social channels out there, including Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon and more. According to Yousaf Sekander from Social Analytics, the data comes directly from each network’s API which means the data is platform agnostic. In other words, whatever data the social network has on your site, it is captured right from the social channel.

A few things we noticed about these top headlines:

• Not surprisingly, Google authorship and content is popular on Google+
• Project Glass was a highlight this year, not just a breakthrough invention, but also in terms of marketing online and offline
• Our Google+ audience is paying attention to ongoing privacy changes

So let’s get started! Here are our top stories with the most +1′s from 2012, with the number of +1′s each received shown after the headline:

1. Microsoft To Make Same Privacy Change Google Was Attacked For; No One Seems To Care (203)

2. How Google Went From Search Engine To Content Destination (175)

3. Google Providing Authorship Analytics To Google+ Users (121)

4. How Facebook Tagging Helped Make Randi Zuckerberg’s “Private” Photo Go Public (120)

5. Thanks To Project Glass, Google Is Most Shared Video Brand Of 2012 [Report] (119)

6. Google Glass Meets Fashion, Smart Glasses Part Of DVF Fashion Show (109)

7. Once Deemed Evil, Google Now Embraces “Paid Inclusion” (107 )

8. TIME Names Google Glass A ‘Best Invention Of 2012′ (101)

9. Should Google+ Communities Be Part Of Your Social Media Strategy? (99)

10. The Return Of The Google Dance (97)

11. Vic Gundotra: Google+ Doesn’t Intrude On Social With Ads, Piss Off Developers By Changing APIs (95)

12. Dark Google: One Year Since Search Terms Went “Not Provided” (82)

13. Microsoft Slams Google Privacy Changes With “Putting People First” Ad Campaign (78)

14. Step-By-Step: How To Download All Your Tweets With The New Twitter Archive Service (75)

15. Google+ Hits 135 Million “In Stream” Users: The Growth Chart & Behind The Numbers (74)

16. Santa Tracking Explained: Why NORAD & Google Show Different Locations & Gifts Delivered (70)

17. No, You Don’t Need To Fear The Google Privacy Changes: A Reality Check (62)

18. Facebook Tests Pay-For-Delivery Messaging; Brands May Get Access Later (59)

19. Google’s “AR” Game Ingress Offers A Glimpse Of The Future (58)

20. Google’s New Terms Of Service & Privacy Policy: Anything You Do May Be Used To Target You? (57)

A special thanks Annie Cushing, who told us about the tool.

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Features & Analysis | Most Popular Stories | Top News

About The Author: Monica Wright Monica Wright has over 10 years of media and content marketing experience, with a strong focus on driving online audiences for media companies. She serves as the the Community Editor for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land, and regularly consults and speaks on SEO, social media, and local search techniques. You can follow her on Twitter @MonicaWright. See more articles by Monica Wright

Connect with the author via: Email | Twitter | Google+ | LinkedIn