Meet +1: Google’s Answer To The Facebook Like Button

[eurotrash]

According to Danny, G are announcing this at 11am Pacific.  Danny still seems to be writing it right now even though it is live.

http://searchengineland.com/meet-1-googles-answer-to-the-facebook-like-button-70569#

[Rumbas]

Here: http://www.google.com/+1/button/

[thesaintv12]

Great, a whole new industry in +1 exchange....

[edo]

Great share, thanks.

I'm sure it'll be big but I don't see how it will improve the purity of the search listings.

All that'll happen is we'll all be paying Filipinos to +1 our sites instead of blog commenting etc.

Ed

[littleman]

When you do a search when logged into Google, any results that you've +1′d — or which have been +1′d by those in your network — will be enhanced

This will be another feather in the cap of G's algo if/when it gets widely adapted.  I could see this being on par with linkpop in a few years.  Might even trump linkpop as a factor in rank some day.

[eurotrash]

I also noted in Danny's piece yesterday he mentioned that the term +1 is pretty much unsearchable.

I  find a lot of small local business find it hard to get people to leave reviews on Google because of the sign-up process they have to go through.  I am thinking that this may be easier for them to get a +1. 

The people who get found on something like freeindex a review is easier because the punter has had to sign up to post the job in the first place - I've also noted that free index now flags up spam reviews by saying it comes from the same IP address as another review -- I wonder if G will do the same or will not accept +1s from the same IP address. 

Will there come a time when you can -1 someone - because as well as telling your friends how good it is, it may be relevant to tell them you had bad experiences as well.

I was in a private SNP (Scottish Nose Pickers Nationalist Party) bulletin board last night and some in there are going to have a meeting about +1ing today because there is a Scottish Parliamentary Election on 5th May.   I was thinking that this could be a huge boon to independent candidates fighting local elections if they build the right type of website.

However I think this is open to massive abuse,  much more than links and very much more than reviews, because it is, in theory, much easier than the other two.  I am sure that G have thought about this before the yesterday but the experience over the next few months should be interesting.

[Gurtie]

good point in the comments about a possible own goal though - how can you +1 a page which appears in the SERPs until you've visited it to know if you like it, and who in hell is going to bother to go back to Google to hit the +1 after you've been to a site? It might work if you're researching and want to remember sites you may want to go back to later after comparing prices, but how well will it actually work until the buttons are actually on the sites?

Wonder if you could frame the SERPs and locate the button well enough to force it to appear in an iframe on your page?

[Adam C]

from a competitive standpoint I think google had to do this.

Only Facebook really know how useful the data their building up via their like buttons is, however many have speculated that they'll launch an engine off the back of this data that could rival Google.  Makes sense that Google give it a whirl also and see how it can augment their engine.

[Rooftop]

Do we know that this is/will be influencing SERPs directly on a "more ++ = more rank" basis? I've only seen that referenced in terms of influencing your / your "networks" results (i've got a network through google???). 

Other ways that the data is damn valuable without +++ = position:

• Cross check for collatteral damage on other updates - just as they announced their block data justified Panda
• Build interest based groups/patterns (although what is the point with the data that they have to hand already)
• Data to be used later to highlight Ads to encourage click threw: "Hey Gurtie... Rooftop liked this ad... see his big fat grinning face. You'll like it to... go on... click it... you know you want to...
• Penalising everyone who rushes off and +1s their site in the first month as they are obviously Search pros gaming the system.... oh no, you didn't did ya?

Just thinking.

[edo]

good point in the comments about a possible own goal though - how can you +1 a page which appears in the SERPs until you've visited it to know if you like it, and who in hell is going to bother to go back to Google to hit the +1 after you've been to a site? It might work if you're researching and want to remember sites you may want to go back to later after comparing prices, but how well will it actually work until the buttons are actually on the sites?

I also thought this when reading that comment, Denise, but thinking about it it can work but it will involve sites flashing their +1 button as much as possible. E- commerce sites will no doubt put it at the end of the purchase process, which will then affect their search ranking as Google it seems can pretty much tie any data they want together.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is will the +1 turn to +2, +3,000 etc as more people click it. If so, that really is asking for smart webmasters to game the system.

Ed

[Gurtie]

oh yeah, I think once the buttons are on the sites then its worthwhile data. My triple layer tinfoil hat dictates though that until this point I don't think I'll be actively encouraging clicks because there is a danger it will look a bit strange. There will also be a learning curve of users clicking and then unclicking to see what it does so logic would dictate that the first 3 months data is pretty much ignored for any important purposes in the future....

Interesting that the instant reaction amongst non search people in the office was 'well where's the -1 button'

[Drastic]

Time for the +1 content locker.

[grnidone]

Wonder how much it costs to get a +1?  Just add it to your budget.

[rcjordan]

Here's the embeddable +1 button code.  Supposedly, not yet released by Big G.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/31/omg-someone-just-found-an-embeddable-google-1-button-%E2%80%93-and-it-works/

[GerBot]

* Google profile adoption a major barrier
* Search ads will finally get more user data so good for advertisers/clients (based on how much G ends up sharing of course)
* CTR for campaigns will go up initially - newness factor
* Major push required from clients to get users to +1 on their sites and this will then filter through to users network as they search on Google
* Expect a little bit of confusing for users initially - is +1 a Call to Action? Users used to think of any "Call to action" on ads a click which then either fulfils their query intent (or not)
* as above - ad messaging will need to take this into consideration
* on organic results – how does one +1 a link/snippet without actually seeing the site or page? Does Google expect users to click link (like what they see) go back to SERPs and then +1 the result

To see how it evolves I recommend the following actions -
* Opt into the experiment here - http://www.google.com/experimental/index.html
* Make sure tour Google has picked up your social connections (Titter etc) in your Google account dashboard otherwise none of your social +1s will be picked up

Ohhh and my head hurts looking at the visual clutter on the SERPs page now!
* Google profile adoption a major barrier
* Search ads will finally get more user data so good for advertisers/clients (based on how much G ends up sharing of course)
* CTR for campaigns will go up initially - newness factor
* Major push required from clients to get users to +1 on their sites and this will then filter through to users network as they search on Google
* Expect a little bit of confusing for users initially - is +1 a Call to Action? Users used to think of any "Call to action" on ads a click which then either fulfils their query intent (or not)
* as above - ad messaging will need to take this into consideration
* on organic results – how does one +1 a link/snippet without actually seeing the site or page? Does Google expect users to click link (like what they see) go back to SERPs and then +1 the result

To see how it evolves I recommend the following actions -
* Opt into the experiment here - http://www.google.com/experimental/index.html
* Make sure tour Google has picked up your social connections (Titter etc) in your Google account dashboard otherwise none of your social +1s will be picked up

Ohhh and my head hurts looking at the visual clutter on the SERPs page now!