What Wholesalers Need to Know About Google’s +1 Button
As many of you in the wholesale industry know, Google has gradually been including more social content in its search results. This week, Google announced its +1 recommendation button on the Official Google Blog. Google’s recent addition of the +1 button in search results will make it possible for you to “+1” (recommend) the organic and/or sponsored links that you like. Then, you will see a +1 button next to an organic listing or sponsored text ad, if you are logged into your Google account.
Initially, this feature will only be available to a small number of Google users searching in English on Google.com in the U.S. To see how +1 works, go to Google Experimental and follow the instructions. When you click a +1 button, it means you like that link and are sharing it publically with your social network. If you change your mind, you can undo your +1.
Your +1 social network includes people on your Gmail and Google Talk list, people in your My Contacts group in Google Contacts and people you follow in Google Reader or Google Buzz. Google plans to include your connections from non-Google services like Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites in the future.
Besides making search more social, Google believes +1 will make search results more relevant while improving the search experience for users. Google’s testing of +1 sponsored ads vs. ads without +1 shows that the click-through rates for the +1 ads are higher. Google plans to put the +1 buttons on all ads by default; however, advertisers can fill out an application to opt out of the +1 button if they wish. Clicks on the +1 button next to the ads will not count as a paid click, which would cost the advertiser money. The data gives advertisers a record of which ads are liked the most, and Google will also maintain such data for organic links.
Google plans to make it possible for websites to add Google +1 buttons to their web pages alongside their Facebook Like buttons and Twitter Tweet buttons in the future. You can sign up for notification when +1 buttons are available for your website by providing Google with your email and website address. The +1 buttons will let people who like your content recommend it on Google search, which will help your site stand out.
As many of you know, Google started making search more social by including data from Facebook and Twitter in search results a few months ago, displaying information that people in your social network created or shared when such info is relevant to your own queries. Google +1 adds recommendations to Google’s social search capability. From now on, you will see content created and content shared by those in your social network, in addition to content they recommend.
So what does this mean for wholesalers? On the one hand, it means search engine optimization becomes ever more complex as search results become more idiosyncratic to different users’ tastes and the people they know. On the other hand, it presents a lot more opportunities to rank well in search results when you have the time, resources, ingenuity and knowledge to take advantage of optimizing all your digital assets.
