Newsletter

Subscribe to our mailing list

June 30, 2011
What is Google +1

What is Google +1


So Google +1. There seems to be a lot of "buzz" about it recently, though it's been available (experimental) since March. Google is now unleashing a brand new wave of changes in their next evolutionary step. It's all apart of what they are branding the Google + Project. It has some great looking potential but currently it is in beta and only open to invitation, which unfortunately has maxed out. What is publicly available is their "+1" button.

So…

What is it?

The easiest way to explain is that it's a lot like facebook's "Like" button. It has differences but many are saying this is Google's direct competition with Facebook and they are attempting to overtake the social media giant.

How does it work?

You will need to create a Google profile. Your profile is visible to anyone in addition to all connections associated to your gmail address. Whenever you are signed in and you search Google you will see +1 buttons next to indexed listings. If you like something, you can simple +1 it from Google (see sample below) or from a web page itself (see share links to the left of this article).

Your +1’s are stored in a new tab on your Google profile. You can show your +1’s tab to the world, or keep it private and just use it to personally manage the ever-expanding record of things you love around the web. If you are logged in, your +1's will show next to listings you have +1'd before, so you can tell websites you prefer over sites you do not.

 

Why does that matter?

People are more interested in things that friends like or approve of. If I'm going to buy a new product., I'm more interested in what my friends think of it than a paid actor on a commercial. The point is to "help people discover relevant content".

How does this affect my traffic and search performance?

Google doesn't explicitly say one way or the other but what they do say is:

"Content recommended by friends and acquaintances is often more relevant… 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. This is just one of many signals Google may use to determine a page’s relevance and ranking, and we’re constantly tweaking and improving our algorithm to improve overall search quality. For +1's, as with any new ranking signal, we'll be starting carefully and learning how those signals affect search quality."

I believe as Google continues to compete with Facebook, +1 will gain weight with search results.

Even if it turns out that Google decides that +1 will have no negative or positive effect whatsoever on queries, the amount of +1's and who they are from can play a big role in in tipping the scales for what users will click, read, buy, etc.

I would check out a website that has 200+1's over a site with none. Further still, I'd follow a link with a couple +1's from people I know than one that has more from people I don't know but still preferring both of them over a website with 0.

The Future

Google is very big and they have a lot of smart people on their team. They aren't infallible but I do think they are on to something with this, especially with their upcoming public release of the Google + Project . Don't be surprised to see that little +1 button more and more. So go ahead and get ahead and start using the +1 button. While you're at it, you should +1 this article.

Read our next post...

Events DNN Summit 2021 Follow-Up

Marketing Creating Video Content on a Budget

Web Dev Maximize Your Website’s ROI with Affordable Usability Testing

Marketing Less is More: Optimize Your Website Content

Marketing More UX Myths...Debunked

Marketing The Do’s and Don’ts of Marketing During COVID-19

Marketing Are You Prepared to Run an Effective Remote Team?

Marketing We Are Business As Usual… And Here to Help

Marketing Make the Most of Your Digital Marketing Budget

Marketing 4 Digital New Year’s Resolutions That Will Make Your Business More Money

Web Dev Are You Making These 6 Website Mistakes? Consider an Audit

Events Behind-the-Scenes on our New Brand Video

Marketing How to Create Facebook Posts That Command Attention

Marketing 10 Common UX Myths

Marketing 6 Reasons Your Business Needs a Blog

Events ADA Website Compliance Webinar

Web Dev With 2285 lawsuits in 2018, is your website ADA compliant?

Modules Increase E-commerce Sales with Nosto’s Content Personalization

Marketing Smarter Email with SharpSpring

Web Dev 10 Pound Gorilla Named as a Top Developer in Denver!

DNN Hangout with the Gorilla Girl

Events DNN Summit 2019 Follow-Up

Events Heli-Expo 2019

DNN, Events DNN Summit 2019

Marketing Business Tips for the New Year

Web Dev 10 Pound Gorilla Recognized as Top Web Design Firm in US for 2018

DNN, Web Dev Exciting News for 10 Pound Gorilla

Marketing What Has 10 Pound Gorilla Been Up To & Why It Can Help You Grow

DNN We’ve Made Friends Far and Away

DNN, Marketing, Web Dev 2018 DNN Summit Sessions

Marketing Influencers Influence, Followers Follow

We Secured $25,000 in Grants for Our Client – We Can Help You Too!

Marketing 5 “Must Do” Items to Enhance Your Marketing

Marketing Retargeting: Never Lose Sight Of Your Website Visitor

Web Dev Quality Websites Need Quality Typography

Marketing Web Development Meets Web Analytics: The Knowledge Gap

Web Dev Responsive Design: It's More Than Just Design

Marketing Economic Summit 2017

Marketing Mary Meeker's Global Internet Trends

Marketing, Web Dev A/B Testing: Getting the Most out of Your Site

Marketing, Web Dev Upping the Ante: Interactive Content

Marketing, Web Dev Google’s SEO Best Practices: A Starter Guide

Marketing Creating Timeless Content to Boost SEO

Marketing, Web Dev 2017 Research Recognizes 10 Pound Gorilla as a Leader in SEO

Marketing, Web Dev Designing an Elegant Website using Whitespace

Marketing, Web Dev Test Your Website’s Success Using Heat Maps

Marketing Start Fresh, & Advertise with Facebook!

DNN, Marketing, Web Dev 2017 DNN Summit Sessions

Marketing, Web Dev Web Design: The Past, The Present, & The Future

Marketing, Web Dev Intrusive Pop-Ups to be Penalized by Google

Marketing The New Wave of Advertising: Native Ads

DNN, Web Dev Proud Sponsor of DNN Summit 2017

Marketing Moving to Mobile

Marketing, Video Power of Video

DNN If you’re a DNN user, your site could be vulnerable to hackers

Marketing, Video The Art of Retargeting: How it works and Why You Should Retarget

DNN, Marketing, Web Dev 10 Pound Gorilla Named Top Ten Denver Web Development and Digital Marketing Agency by Clutch.co

Marketing 10 Tips to Design Your Website for Lead Generation

DNN, Marketing, Modules, Web Dev DNNCON: Thank You!

Marketing 10 Ways to Incorporate Direct Response Marketing with Print Media

DNN, Marketing, Web Dev 10 Pound Gorilla... One of Denver's Top 10 Digital Marketing Agencies

Marketing How to Turn Social Media Fans Into New Customers

Marketing Your Facebook Likes No Longer Matter!

Web Dev Is Google Going to Penalize Non-Mobile-Friendly Websites?

DNN DNNCON: Thank You!

DNN, Modules, Web Dev From Ordinary To Extraordinary

DNN, Marketing, Modules How to Sell, Quote or Budget for a DNN E-commerce Website

Web Dev Getting Users to "Respond" to Your Mobile Menu Designs

DNN, Web Dev DNNCON: Editor.css

Marketing Getting The Conversion

Marketing Tips for Writing Effective Newsletters

Marketing Why Should You Have a Newsletter?

Marketing Writing Copy That Will Actually Be Read

DNN Editor.css: Giving You & Your Clients Less Headaches

DNN, Web Dev Connall Cosmetic Surgery: Case Study

Web Dev Making the Case for a Responsive Site

DNN, Modules, Web Dev March Module Madness: Dynamic Forms

DNN, Modules, Web Dev March Module Madness: Ventrian News Articles

DNN, Modules, Web Dev March Module Madness: Form & List

Marketing 5 Tips to Online Marketing

Marketing How the Name "10 Pound Gorilla" Came to Be

Marketing Creative Online Marketing: Groupon & Living Social

Marketing Promoting Your Business With Instagram

Marketing Using Your Blog to Boost SEO

Marketing Surprising Social Media Facts & What You Should Do

DNN, Web Dev DNN Con 2013: Mobile Navigation

DNN, Web Dev DNN Con 2013: Determining What Makes the Mobile Cut

DNN, Modules, Web Dev DNN Con 2013: DDR And JQuery. More Than Just Hover And Drop Down.

Web Dev A Mobile-First Approach to the Web

DNN Southern Fried DNN: Best of both worlds: Great Design and Flexibility

DNN Southern Fried DNN: Different skin designs from just one skin file

Web Dev The Future of the Web: HTML5

DNN Dot Net Nuke World 2012 Speakers & Sponsors

Marketing Google Places is now Google+ Local

DNN, Marketing Day of DNN - Using DNN to Feed Data to Several Social Portals

DNN, Marketing Day of DNN - Easy to Use Strategies for Writing & Submitting Articles to Increase Inbound Links

DNN, Marketing Day of DNN - How to Optimize Your Socialization

DNN Guest Speakers at Day of DNN!

Marketing Enticing Your Followers with Fresh Content: A How To Guide

DNN, Web Dev What Can Website Templates Do For You?

Marketing Getting Up in the Ranks Through SEO

DNN, Modules Best DNN Shopping Cart

Marketing Enter into the "Timeline"

Marketing Making Your Facebook Business Page Secure

Marketing Get Your Tweet-Face On

DNN, Marketing Google Analytics and DNN

Marketing What is Social Media and What Can It Do for You

DNN Advantages of DotNetNuke

Web Dev 8 Ways to Increase Website Speed

Marketing Beyond Facebook and Twitter, Get "In" with Social Media

Web Dev 8 Great Website Development Tools

Web Dev Your Website & Internet Explorer

Marketing What is Google +1

Web Dev What is "The Cloud"?

Our Story
What makes us different?
+

Succeed

Contact 10 Pound Gorilla Today
for Your Free Consultation