Google +1 Button Is Coming to Google AdWords
As wholesalers and general merchandise suppliers know, word of mouth is a powerful thing. When buyers have a choice to make, they like to turn to their friends and colleagues because they trust the people they know. On the web, word of mouth has become “word of click.” Similar to the Facebook “like” button, Google +1 provides suggestions from friends and colleagues by showing recommendations online in the form of +1s in the SERPs. It’s faster and simpler than getting the good word in conversations around the water cooler. Soon, Google +1 will also be seen on Google AdWords ads.
With the +1 button, Google made it easier for people to get recommendations in the SERPs from the people they know while they’re actually searching. We first wrote about that in “Wholesalers Benefit with Google +1 on Product Pages.” With a single click, the +1 button lets Google users recommend the content they like on the web to their friends when it’s most useful − on the SERPs (if they’re signed in).
In the coming weeks, Google will provide +1 buttons users can click to recommend Google AdWords ads. Just think how much more powerful your ads can become in search results. You don’t need to make any changes to your account to take advantage of Google +1 on ads. The final landing page URL of your ads can also appear on the Google profile of any user who +1’s your ad.
Here’s How the +1 Button Works on Ads
Inside Google AdWords shows the following example for a hypothetical hotel in Madrid. The example says Brian had a lovely stay at this hotel and then started researching accommodations for his next trip to Spain. If Brian searched on Google while signed into his Google account, he would see the Grand Hotel’s ad and presumably click the +1 button on the ad to recommend it to his contacts.
Subsequently when Brian’s friend Kate plans her trip to Spain and signs in to her Google account, she inputs a query and also sees the Grand Hotel ad – plus the personalized annotation that Brian +1’d it. Presumably, Brian’s recommendation of this hotel helps Kate decide where to stay in Spain.
So that’s how the +1 button works. Think of it as a way for fans of your business to recommend the products you offer for all their friends and contacts to see. Google believes +1 can help you get more qualified traffic from your ads because searchers will be exposed to more personal, relevant ads. You can also add the +1 button to your website to give your customers the opportunity to +1 your site after having visited.
Wholesalers can get more information about how +1 for ads works at the AdWords Help Center. Wholesalers can get complete information and watch a video about adding the +1 button to their website at Google Webmaster Central.
This is very disturbing.
Adwords users are being OPTED IN to +1 clicks on their adwords by default.
The opt-out route is buried under user documentation and leads to a form that does not work properly – when the tick box to opt out is left unticked to indicate that the user wants to opt out of ‘+1 adwords’ then the form repeats with a red error message next to the tick box saying it is ‘required’. I tried this on mozilla firebox and IE and being an ex IT pro I am not given to simple mis-understandings or errors on forms.
I am disturbed that Google make the option for users to incur fees on their adwords accounts via the +1 feature an “opt in” by default feature. I assume that a business contract means that both sides will tend to stick as much as possible to the original agreement and that change will be facilitated by allowing the user to opt-in manually.
The fact that the opt out route is so obscure and doesnt even work is troubling.
I expect to see the option on my adwords account homepage – I should be able to login and turn +1 adwords on or off as I please and the default for the new feature should be OFF until I say otherwise.
Since when did Google get to choose how and when I spend my money? I expect clean and transparent controls and to have as much control as humanly possible on how my advertising revenue is spent.
Jon
email address withheld.