Google to launch "+1" button tomorrow - Social search is here

[Jeff Hampton]

According to reports from Tech Crunch, Google is going to officially launch their "+1" button tomorrow. It's their version of Facebook's "like" button. And the implications are huge.

Actually, +1 has been available for a while on search results, but you have to sign up through Google labs to see it.

Tomorrow's announcement is said to be the launch of +1 for websites. Sites will be able to place a +1 button on their pages. Then when people are doing a Google search, there will be an indication of whether your contacts have +1'd a particular listing, as well as how many people have in total.

So imagine that the number 1 result in the SERPs for a particular keyword has 20 +1's while the number 3 result has 500 +1's. Suddenly the number 1 spot alone is not nearly as attractive.

+1 will also appear next to ads. Again, the implications of this are huge.

And obviously, the potential for abuse is just as large.

It seems to me that this will be a huge shake-up for both the SEO and the PPC worlds. Am I missing something?

[Jeffrey Reidy]

It definitely looks promising, but it'll be interesting to see how it goes. Google hasn't exactly nailed the "social" thing yet.

[HotDamnShortSales]

Always somethin new, now people will be selling "get 100+1's" on fiverr and the like! gotta love it

[singhavn]

Thinking of another way to make money.........Selling +1 like fb likes

[BigNorm]

I remember seeing this awhile back and thinking the same thing, the implications to exploit it's obvious short falls will be huge. I agree with that comment on Fiverr, people will be selling them left right and center once someone figures out how to build a bot for it.

I've also wondered when I first saw this, if it would carry weight much like PR does. As we all know Google ranks pages, but what happens if a person has a website with over a thousand pages and each one of those pages has over 100-1000 +1's? I'm willing to bet it would have some kind of impact, Google wouldn't roll it out if it was just to decorate your site with a +1 button.

[Jeff Hampton]

Yeah, I have to think that Google understands that this will be abused, but I don't really see how they will counter it. The most basic methods would be easy to spot. But I don't see how they could counter manipulating it through micro job outsourcing.

And, of course, one big question is whether the +1 will be a direct factor in SERP ranking. My guess is that they will, but even if not, they could still have a huge impact.

[simonbuzz]

For for it...

[Jeff Hampton]

By the way, one way Google will combat fraud appears to be giving far more weight to +1's from people in your social circle:

From the +1 FAQ: “Content recommended by friends and acquaintances is often more relevant than content from strangers. For example, a movie review from an expert is useful, but a movie review from a friend who shares your tastes can be even better. Because of this, +1’s from friends and contacts can be a useful signal to Google when determining the relevance of your page to a user’s query.”

[waterburn]

This will be interesting to follow. We should have a contest to see how many Warriors can get the most +1s on the first day of its release!

[Ken_Caudill]

Makes me wonder where the market for +1 clicks will settle.

[GarrieWilson]

+1 would work better if they used facebook friends to judge the weight. Google friends, eh, I have two so it will be of zero benefit to me. Not to mention I do not stayed loged into Google when I search.

-Garrie

[Jeff Hampton]

Originally Posted by GarrieWilson

+1 would work better if they used facebook friends to judge the weight. Google friends, eh, I have two so it will be of zero benefit to me.

That's a great point, Garrie, and that's exactly what they are talking about doing. There have also been indications that they will (and in fact already are) considering twitter networks, too.

The idea is to determine the way that +1's travel through networks. Not physical networks, but networks of friends. This is probably their most powerful tool in fighting abuse.

Jeff

[Bradley J Anderson]

I wondered why I wasn't seeing it yet. I didn't know you had to sign up through Google Labs to see it, though.

[matt5409]

I'm not sure I like the idea of the +1 button. Google has prided itself on great search results based on automated algorhythms, but this is more editorial which would indicate a step back :S

[HollyK]

I wonder if they will use gmail accounts to validate the social network?

[Raitei_Ericko]

Looking from the potential abuse of this '+1', it doesn't looks right if this affect SERP greatly. Unless they find ways to prevent the abuse of course..

[dcristo]

Originally Posted by Raitei_Ericko

Looking from the potential abuse of this '+1', it doesn't looks right if this affect SERP greatly. Unless they find ways to prevent the abuse of course..

Exactly. Anything which can be easily abused has little to no effect on the search results. Outside of SEO there could be some benefits, however.

[StoneWilson]

Are they gonna to launch "-1 button" in future?

[bobby_shahzad]

I am soon eecting a new product from some entreprenuer

"GOOGLE +1 NUKE" :d

[BigNorm]

How would they judge or determine that? Through Facebook or Twitter? If so wouldn't that mean that Google would need to find somewhere of seeing who your friends are on the network? Also how bout networks like Bebo, myYearbook or the like? To be honest, the only real way I can see them being able to make this work using friends and contacts is to use their network like Google Buzz.

Originally Posted by Jeff Hampton

By the way, one way Google will combat fraud appears to be giving far more weight to +1's from people in your social circle:

From the +1 FAQ: “Content recommended by friends and acquaintances is often more relevant than content from strangers. For example, a movie review from an expert is useful, but a movie review from a friend who shares your tastes can be even better. Because of this, +1’s from friends and contacts can be a useful signal to Google when determining the relevance of your page to a user’s query.”

[jamjar919]

Only available for american Google so far not the british one... Hmmm. How will this turn out?

[balric]

I bet this gets ignored by most people except the marketers that use it to try to send their sites to the top.

[jamjar919]

Originally Posted by bobby_shahzad

I am soon eecting a new product from some entreprenuer

"GOOGLE +1 NUKE" :d

The sad thing is, you're probably right

[GetMoreTraffic]

I think Google is being forced into the social space against their will....they are not particularly good at it. If they want to get this sort of thing right, they will have to buy Facebook...

[Boston Joe]

Wow! Very interesting indeed. I am curious to see how this plays out. Certainly Google is too smart to allow this to be abused as easily as it seems no?

[Nonny]

Originally Posted by BigNorm

How would they judge or determine that? Through Facebook or Twitter? If so wouldn't that mean that Google would need to find somewhere of seeing who your friends are on the network? Also how bout networks like Bebo, myYearbook or the like? To be honest, the only real way I can see them being able to make this work using friends and contacts is to use their network like Google Buzz.

You can add your Facebook, Twitter, etc to your Social Circle.

Google Social Search : Features - Web Search Help

Social connections : Features - Web Search Help

I'm not particularly interested in what most of my Facebook "friends" or Google contacts think of search results, so I"m not sure how useful this will be. What I'd really like is a way to pick and choose who my Google "search friends" are, the same way I pick who I'm linked to on other social sites.

[BigNorm]

Judging from what the additional information shows, you can pick and choose who you connect to or don't. I really don't like the way Google has set this up as it shows a very easy loop hole to exploit if it's a case of having people connect to your Google account and vice versa.

To be honest, Google is a search engine.....so should stick to being a search engine. I really can't see Google proving any threat to facebook anytime in the near or distant future.

Originally Posted by Nonny

You can add your Facebook, Twitter, etc to your Social Circle.

Google Social Search : Features - Web Search Help

Social connections : Features - Web Search Help

I'm not particularly interested in what most of my Facebook "friends" or Google contacts think of search results, so I"m not sure how useful this will be. What I'd really like is a way to pick and choose who my Google "search friends" are, the same way I pick who I'm linked to on other social sites.

[gskesavan]

Okay, so this means you got 2 factors to consider. One is that you've to rank on the first page. The second is that you've to actually get more +1s than all the others on the first page.

This is gonna be fun and interesting.

[vivaarturo]

will be interesting to see how this works, right now it looks very easy to game and could be an unfair advantage. As always seo is always changing and we just have to adapt

[cryst]

lets wait and see how exactly the program runs..will it benefit for SEO or not....

[Rukshan]

Google try to copy Facebook. Nothing else

[serena85]

I think that will be just another way to make SEO

[mikereisinger]

I doubt that this will have too much of an impact on ranking in the short term. Sounds more like a test to me. But just in case, everybody to go my sites and +1 them Sounds like a good fiverr job!

[Tuffy22]

As a consumer, I wouldn't want my search results skewed by the tastes and opinions of people in my network. Google may claim that this makes the results more "relevant." I would argue the exact opposite. From an SEO perspective...this just throws yet another wrinkle into the fold.

[Jeff Hampton]

Originally Posted by BigNorm

How would they judge or determine that? Through Facebook or Twitter? If so wouldn't that mean that Google would need to find somewhere of seeing who your friends are on the network?

On both Facebook and twitter, anyone can see who your friends/followers are.

[Andy Hart]

Originally Posted by Jeff Hampton

On both Facebook and twitter, anyone can see who your friends/followers are.

Not if you adjust your privacy settings, which are a minefield in themselves and are constantly changing to become even more confusing.

[j10nnb]

Just come up on my adsense account to add the option to add the +1 code to my websites.

[Heavenstorm]

Originally Posted by j10nnb

Just come up on my adsense account to add the option to add the +1 code to my websites.

yea same here...not sure if I should implement it to my sites

[ProdigyMike]

Yeh, I just noticed this in my adsense account - will be interesting to see how this one pans out.

[humbledmarket]

Definitely a huge shake up but it'll work in our favour. The perks of social proof

It is also good for quality sites that provide actual user experience would naturally assist them. I'm sure a bunch of sites will pop up offering such liking system just as with youtube likes or a network like twiends.

[sharma3361]

its launched , but should have been more descriptive. facebook like button tells user that by clicking it you are showing likeliness of this article.
But simply small plus 1 button and that too without a google logo is confusing

[j10nnb]

yes not sure if I will implement it myself. I took the analytics off some of my sites last week not done anything else with them and the rankings and visitors have started increasing.

[atrbiz]

This is going to be easily abused. I'm curious to see how it'll work out......

[Clayton Rice]

Originally Posted by atrbiz

This is going to be easily abused. I'm curious to see how it'll work out......

You are right. Just like facebook likes. However, if anyone can figure out who's abusing what, it's Google. I may be wrong, who knows. Thanks to the OP for alerting me of this - I hadn't seen it until now.

[paulgl]

Just this minute got the email from google saying the code is
ready! Putting it in place now.

Paul

[Shane Dolby]

Yea logged into my adsense account and there was a message click here to get the code for google +1

[Fernando Veloso]

Here we go again...

Another dumb move from G in 5, 4, 3, 2...

[guitarjosh]

So... here's my confusion. My AdSense account gave me the new code to add but it's the same code for all of my sites?? I just added it to 3 sites and giving it a 'Like', I see it also gives the like to my other 2 sites.

What's up with that? I can put the button on a high PR site and spread those likes to my crappy sites too???

[Jeff Hampton]

Originally Posted by guitarjosh

So... here's my confusion. My AdSense account gave me the new code to add but it's the same code for all of my sites?? I just added it to 3 sites and giving it a 'Like', I see it also gives the like to my other 2 sites.

What's up with that? I can put the button on a high PR site and spread those likes to my crappy sites too???

Looks like it's the same code for everyone. They will identify the page by the referrer. That way, you don't have to get a new code everytime you add a page.

[Greenfatman]

It just showing up on my adsense account...I will wait and see, I don't wanna google inside my sites like analytics, this way they will control you...