Jul 05 2011

Tips For Making Google Search More Productive #2 +1 Button Posted 316 days ago ago by John Clark     2 Comments

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Since I wrote Part 1 on June 23rd, Google changed things again, adding yet a new feature to their search results. It's called +1 and while you may have not noticed it, it is important to understand how it works of you want to take advantage of it for your business website.



You will notice in your search results now the +1 tag as seen above. Briefly, here is how this thing works and how you can make use of it on your website.

First you would need to have a Google gmail account and be logged into it in one of your tabs using the same browser. When you search for something and any of the results have been +1'd by any of your Google social contacts then it will show up just below your search results listing.

You also have the same choice now as well. You can hit the +1 in the listing so you can recommend a site to your gmail social contacts, or if that site has installed the +1 button on it, you can click it there. As this is so new few sites have this button installed yet.

This can change your search results!
If you are not logged into Google and do a search you may get a different result than if you are logged in. Google will dish up the sites your social network has +1 clicked much higher in your results because it figures you would want to see them ahead of others.

Now you may be asking yourself, "I don't even have a gmail account so why should I give a rip about this?" First of all, it's not all about you. It's about your large world of potential clients. While only half the number of people in the US have a gmail account as have a Facebook account, that's still a lot of people. What you are doing by putting an easy to use +1 button on your page is enhancing the chances your clients will recommend your site to others who might be interested.

Notice at the top of this page on our site we have a +1 and a few others to choose from. We're making it easy for people to Like us, Digg us, Stumbleupon us, +1 us and what ever else their flavor is.

This is also the start of a large attack into the social realm that Google is beginning to launch, setting the foundation stones, as they say. Essentially I see this as Google's effort at making a Facebook "Like" button. The battle is on.

There is a lot more coming which I'll cover more in depth in another article. It is called the Google+ Project. This link will take you to the introduction of what it is all about. As of right now you can only play with the actual Beta by invitation but it should open up pretty soon. If Google+ does take off better than Buzz and all their other attempts have so far, then having the +1 button working for you can be huge. If it flounders, then it will become just another piece of icon bling cluttering up your site.

Here are instructions on adding the +1 button to your website.
Here are instructions for adding a Facebook widget.





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• white label SEO 311 days ago
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  The +1 which was introduced by Google will prove useful for sites which are not that trusted. I hope they calibrated it so that others won't abuse it.
  
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    John Clark 309 days ago
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    Time will tell, I guess. Betting they do.
    
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