Google announced yesterday the release of their “+1 Button” which, according to them, is their “this is pretty cool” button. The purpose of the +1 button is to provide people with search results that would interest them the most based on the preferences of their Social Media networks. Next to each search listing there will be a “+1″ button that a person can select if the listing interests them (for both paid and organic results).
If a person clicks the “+1″ button, it basically tells Google that the person found that listing interesting. If someone else from that person’s network comes across the same listing in their search results, it will inform them that the aforementioned person eitehr shared or “+1ed” the content (if you hover over their name it will tell you how you are connected with the person).
For now it limits it to individuals who you are connected to via Google Buzz or Reader, but Google will eventually roll this out to Twitter and other Social Media sites as well (based on what you include in your Google profile).
Impact
How will this effect search behavior and results? It’s too early to tell the full impact of the +1 button, but it is expected to have the following impact:
- An even bigger reliance on entertaining and informative content. Having good content has always been important, but the +1 button could potentially take it to another level. Think about it this way; if 20 people share content on your website and they have a network of 1,000 unique connections each, a total of 20,000 people could potentially see a “(name) shared this” underneath that listing in search results.
- Total connections (followers, etc.) will have more meaning. I’ve always stressed quality over quantity when it comes to Twitter followers, Facebook fans, etc. You can have 10,000 Twitter followers, but if nobody is reading your tweets it has little to no meaning. With Google’s new feature, you can make the simple conclusion that the more connections you have the more likely someone will see you “+1ed” something in search results. That being said; a family, friend, industry leader, co-worker, etc. will usually have more influence than “random connections”.
- Bigger brands will see the biggest impact. As with a lot of new branding-related features that are released, +1 will likely impact bigger brands the most. More awareness = more “+1s” = more exposure in search results.
- You can “+1″ paid search results (ads) along with organic listings. This asks the question of how will having multiple “+1s” for a paid search listing impact CTR.
Skepticism
Before we tout “+1″ as being the best and biggest thing Google has ever done, there are a few potential issues / questions that need to be addressed.
- Who will actually click the +1 button? The +1 button is for people who thought a search listing was positive in some aspect. That means the person likely clicked through and viewed the content. Are people really going to go through the trouble of clicking on a listing, viewing the content on the website, going back to Google to view the listing and then click the +1 button? It seems like a lot to ask. Of course employees will “+1″ their listing, but are actual brand evangelists, customers, or semi-interested parties going to?
- If I’m looking for something specific on Google, I might not care if a friend or family “+1ed” something. I am looking for accuracy, not necessarily what my network had to say.
- What’s going to stop big brands from telling their 10,000+ employees to go on their home computer and “+1″ a listing? I’m hoping Google’s algorithm will be savvy enough to prevent this.
Is it Live Yet?
Well, yes and no. If you implement a search on Google you won’t see the +1 button. However, you can visit http://www.google.com/experimental/ and “join the +1 experiment” to see it in action.
Another cool feature related to the +1 button is that you can sort search results just by people in your network who shared or “+1ed” content. Implement a search, click on “show more tools” on the left navigation, and select “social”.
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