QUOTE(diggdirectory @ Dec 16 2013, 02:04 PM)
Google+ is doing great job and Google+ helping for both backlinks and traffic
Absolutely, when you post mini blog posts on your G+ the header help your post stand out, but Google uses the first words of your post in two different ways:
They incorporates your headline into the title tag of the post and they use the headline to display in Google search results.