The announcement of Google +1 was both a great show of Google’s plans for the social web and a bit of a disappointment (since most of us thought that Google +1 was going to be the company’s social network). But regardless of your initial reaction, if you’re a webmaster, chances are you’re pretty excited to add a “+1” button to your page. As always, though, there are things to learn. Here are some basic bits of information on the Google +1 button.
- Yes, it really will impact your search engine ranking. Google has made that clear. Its exact weight, however, is likely to start out small so Google can monitor it and expand its impact carefully.
- The Google Social Search, which promotes links shared on Twitter by those connected to the searcher in their Google account, will also include +1’d results. The format will be essentially identical.
- Yes, it’s basically the Facebook “Like” button, but with Google support, branding, and search integration.
- No, +1 is not the same as Buzz, nor are they really connected. However, both try to make you pay more attention to and use the personalized (and thus social) elements of your Google Account.
- Worried about privacy? Visit your privacy dashboard if you don’t want your +1s to be public.
- The button doesn’t seem to slow site load times right now, but you can make sure that your page loads quickly by putting your script tag at the very end of your page’s code (right before the /body tag).
- Google recommends putting a button at both the bottom and top of an article or page.
- Using the button requires that you’re logged into your Google account.
- +1 buttons on the SERP are currently available to those who volunteered for the +1 experiment. This page element may be added as a default in the near future.
There’s plenty to learn and discover. Check out more resources in our link below or just play around with the button to discover more features for yourself.
[via Web Pro News]
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SEO
