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Google Takes Social Search to the Next Level with +1

 

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Today, Google came out with a counter punch to Facebook's Like button. Earlier today, the search engine giant began rolling out a new button called +1. The +1 button will apear next to search engine results and AdWords advertisements. In the future, website owners and publishers will be able to add a +1 button to pages and articles on their sites.

How Google +1 Works

Google plus 1  resized 600

How does Google's new +1 work? First of all, +1 is currently being rolled out as an experiment and you need to opt in with Google to have access to it in the short term. In order to view +1 search results and AdWords results, the user will have to be logged in with their Google profile. Once a user is logged in and clicks on the +1 button next to a search engine result, Google we keep track of that +1 and highlight that search result if it appears for any of that user's friends for that or a similar search.

Check out a quick video from Google introducing +1:

A Real Step Towards Social Search

With +1 Google makes a major step forward in its quest for more social search results. Not only do the +1 recommendations play a significant role in Google's series of social search improvements, but they will also highlight content people are actively interested in. Now people using social search will be able to see content created and shared by those in their social network, and recommended by those in their Google +1 network. All of the +1 data, TechCrunch points out, will be available to the public likely through an API.

Google +1 Is a Social Network

google plus one resized 600

While +1's initial impact might be seen in social search results, it is important to realize that +1 is more than that; it is a social network. Google Profiles are at the core of Google's future plans for the discovery and sharing of contextual information. With the launch of +1, Google Profiles got much more useful because a new tab has been created in Google Profiles to let users keep track of all of their +1s.

Marketing Takeaway

It seems like Google keeps making changes and adding new tools that will impact how your business will get found online. Don't worry about understanding all of the details and granularity of every change Google makes. However, you should notice the patterns that are occuring with all of the changes Google is making. Clearly, Google is rewarding social businesses. The more your business connects with prospects and customers online, the more you increase your odds of getting found in Google's evolving search results.

The days of obsessing over keyword rank are over. Instead, make your business social and create relevant information that will help to attract +1s and influence who decides to visit your site from search engine results pages. Blogging and sharing content on social media has never been more important. In a world that is being built on personal recommendations, it is critical that your business becomes social through remarkable content.

What do you think about Google +1?

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Posted by Kipp Bodnar on Wed, Mar 30, 2011 @ 02:07 PM

COMMENTS

In theory this sounds great to me. If I build websites with great content, then people will "+ 1" it and I'll climb up the rankings, right? Except that when people search google and find a site that provides them with what they want, how often are they going to hit the back button to the search results and click +1? I wouldn't think that is too likely. So although I like the idea, I dont know how valuable it'll be in practice.

posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 2:25 PM by Todd


Google should thank Facebook for conditioning the world to "like" content in a public display. Adoption of +1 will be easy.  
 
The impact of +1 on SEO will be HUGE. Now, marketers will obsess over rankings (yes, rankings) and +1's. The search listings with more +1's will be more influential.  
 
Marketers that have resisted being social will be in a catch up mode. 
 
It's more important than ever for marketers to get their employees to be social with work related content.

posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 2:27 PM by Bernie Borges


You make a good point about not trying to understand the details of every new change and to focus instead on the pattern, which is making business social. But are the days obsessing over keyword rank really over, and will this be reflected in Hubspot tools?

posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 2:27 PM by Don Metznik


I take it you need to be using Chrome to see the +1 button?

posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 3:00 PM by SS


It's like Reddit, but tied directly into search. I think this is really cool and will make Hubspot's tenets (and our tenets at Right Source Marketing) of marketing with content to generate inbound interest even more significant. Quality, rather than quantity of keywords, will become more important. Can't wait to see how this works out.

posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 3:17 PM by Tracy Gold


I don't know about you, but this is pretty exciting to me. Another option for sharing online, built into a tool that billions of people across the globe already use? Awesome sauce. 
 
RE SS: I'm using Firefox and it works fine. You may have to enable it in Google Experimental though.

posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 3:24 PM by Tanner


This is really good news for those you genuinely put out quality content..another attempt to move away from lite weight, ad heavy content sites.

posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 4:17 PM by JoAnn


Let the gaming begin. I'm already hearing rumblings of people who are calling friends, neighbors and family to +1 their sites. Not sure how far that will go in the scheme of things. It will be interesting to see how long this will take to go from experimental to live. The thing is, will people search 2, 3 or even 4 pages deep to find the sites with the most votes or still be impressed by those coming up on page 1. Time will tell...

posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 4:46 PM by Desiree Scales


As someone who works in the digital marketing (and knows Google AdWords), this is borderline revolutionary for me.  
 
Yes, Google is taking a page out of Facebook's mantra but also social media in general, which is intrinsically centered on the user -- user-driven and user-focused.  
 
It's a smart move to slowly transform the technical guise of Google into an experience that is more explicitly based on the user's interaction. Now a user can click that +1 and know they've had a positive impact on that site.

posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 5:01 PM by Simren Deogun


Geez not another like button to add to my sites. Shame Google & FB won't play nice and share their data.

posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 at 5:04 PM by Ralph Vugts


+1 is not yet active in the UAE. Wonder when it will start showing up here. pretty useful concept i'd say.

posted on Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 12:37 AM by Ash


Now that the Great GOOG has transitioned into a social content engine, it's a wide open opportunity for someone to actually get back to making a good search engine.

posted on Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 1:44 AM by intransigent


This is the beginning of something that will affect the way SEO is done and thought of in a whole new way. 
 
I think its time to start working out strategies all over again guys (and ladies to be p/correct). 
 
**(thinking to himself) Gotta get my phone book ready to start calling those long lost friends and have them +1 my site**

posted on Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 4:06 AM by Gerard Willemse


Not sure about this. When people to go to FB, they are going there to participate in this type of activity, but when doing web research, I don't know that people will stop to click on a button when they are actively doing something else. It will be interesting to see how this works...or doesn't...

posted on Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 9:33 AM by Terrie


I think it's a good idea, and can imagine AddThis will be right on the money including the +1 button to its array of social networks.

posted on Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 10:09 AM by Victoria


Why would I +1 a site from the search results, I won't know if it's deserving until I've been there and I won't be bothered to go back to the search results just to hit +1. 
I want s button on my site like facebook like!

posted on Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 10:33 AM by Andy T


FWIW - I also would love to see Google provide me a -1 option so I can help rid the world of spammy linkbait sites:)

posted on Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 10:55 AM by Kirsten Knipp


Internet Privacy Takes a Hit/ 
 
This is a really bad idea on so many levels, that are not blatantly obvious. 
 
The +1 requires you to be logged into your Google Profile so it can track your usage. Marketers may be salivating at the chance for this type of metric, but I cringe at the idea that I may be tracked / spammed or otherwise just because I visited a site with my personal profile exposed.  
 
Its like opt in browser cookies on steroids/ 
 
The simple reason this is bad... 
Organic search data will be skewed by a sample audience using Google +1 actively. 
 
Will Google become like American Idol? Vote or be stuck to listen to the singers voted in by 14 year old girls? 
 
Personally, if +1 really starts to affect search result? I would seriously campaign business users to use Bing (that is until they start the same nonsense). 
 
I think I'm wound up enough to expand on this on my blogwww.directoryservices.com/blogs You won't have to login to read it... 
 

posted on Friday, April 01, 2011 at 5:00 PM by Marc Potter


Not good! Google is out for Google. With the addition of +1 Google has just given everyone on the Internet an opportunity to skew results. And, who benefits here?...GOOGLE! Why?... because the solution for marketers is going to be buy more Google Ads! hummm And don't get me started about lack of privacy!

posted on Monday, April 04, 2011 at 10:44 AM by Elizabeth


Intresting ideas and thought ozzing out here

posted on Wednesday, April 06, 2011 at 4:33 PM by kojo bonti -amoko


Comments have been closed for this article.