Google announced at their I/O conference yesterday that they will be rolling out the +1 button for third-party websites within the next few weeks. What exactly is the +1 button, and how does it affect your site as far as Google is concerned? Google’s +1 service probably sounds familiar to you from recent buzz about their social search service that launched at the end of March. This search service allows users to vote on search results, which will in turn be used as a future factor in ranking results.
The +1 button, however, will be more useful to site owners in directly measuring their content’s success and target audience. Adding the +1 button to your site allows visitors to give a positive vote to pages on your site, and after enough people have given your page their stamp of approval, you’ll be able to view voter demographic data in Google Analytics. Furthermore, you’ll also be able to keep a record of which of your pages site visitors have recommended.
The implications of the +1 button site button for your SEO efforts are good and plentiful. Adding the +1 button to your site creates sharable content for users on Google’s Social Search network. If people like your site and share it with friends, who are also likely to take the recommendation and give it their stamp of approval, your site has the potential to reach many more people than it was in organic searches alone. Plus, if these votes count positively toward your site’s search rank, you’ve not only increased your traffic from social recommendations, but also from the boost in SERP placement.
For more reading about Google’s +1 button, check out these articles:
- Here Comes The Google Version Of Facebook “Likes” (Business Insider)
- Google Takes On Facebook With Social Search (Business Insider)
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more news updates from SEO Boy!
Sarah is an Account Executive at Hanapin Marketing, a search engine marketing firm focused on generating results through PPC and SEO.
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