Will your site be taking advantage?
It’s now official, the Google +1 button designed for websites will be officially released tomorrow. One of Google’s launch partners reportedly leaked news of the release to TechCrunch, who later confirmed that this is indeed true.
In a blog by Danny Sullivan made earlier today. Google confirmed that all webmasters will be able to get the +1 button through a self-serve process. The +1 button will essentially work like the Facebook ‘like’ and Twitter ‘tweet’ buttons now ubiquitous across the web in terms of implementation.
Webmasters will paste a simple code on their site. This code appears to be remotely hosted JavaScript, similar to AdSense. Then, the buttons will appear. Statistics of +1 activity will subsequently be available on Google’s website.
As of this time,
what isn’t clear, is the total effect of +1’ing a web page. Last week, Matt Cutts confirmed that the +1 button will indeed play a role in future organic search results, so is no doubt a factor that SEO’s need to take notice of.
Google recently released social search. We discussed this in our previous blog post. Following this development, we can anticipate the integration of social sharing features. These features will likely resemble those found on Facebook. Users might soon be able to share search results with their social networks. They could also see what their friends have shared.
However, the overall impact of this social sharing on search engine optimization (SEO) is still unknown. SEO professionals will need to observe how these new features influence website rankings. It’s unclear whether social signals will become a more significant ranking factor. We will have to wait and see how Google incorporates this social data into its algorithms. The SEO landscape may change significantly as a result. For now, the precise effects remain a mystery.
Also unknown, is of course whether or others, such as Yahoo! and Bing, will follow suit, and just how far these 3rd party buttons are going to go.
