Google Plus One - How will it impact SEO?

The following is a guest blog post by Adam Short from Niche Profit Classroom:

Social interaction is huge and Google has been working hard to catch up to rival Facebook. With the launch of the Google Plus One Button we have a powerful new tool that will soon allow Google users to share websites and content the same as Facebook users now do with the Like button.

It’s not shocking that Google has followed suit. After all, Facebook’s Like Button was a viral marketing strike of genius. Millions of sites have since added the little blue button to their site, allowing users to not only voice their approval, but share with their dozens or even hundreds of friends in seconds. Today, you’re unlikely to find a single blog, ecommerce site, or business site without a Facebook Like button.

So, along comes Google with their version of the popular social tool. The official announcement went out on YouTube on March 27. I’ve included the video below because there are some very interesting reveals around the 0:46 second mark. Take a look:

At first, this tool is going to be used for approving search results – a great way for Google to continue tweaking their rankings. But, that’s not all. Check out what the narrator says about the future of the Plus One button:

“…and soon you’ll be able to Plus One more than just search results. You’ll also find Plus One buttons on sites across the web, making it easy to Plus One pages after you have visited them.”

Wow! Now this is a big development.

Think about it for a second. Right now, the +1 button is used just for search. If you search for “beagle training” and decide the fourth or fifth page in the search results is better than the first, you can +1 that ranking, basically telling Google “this search result is the best for this keyword”. That’s powerful and Google will gladly integrate those results into their search rankings.

But, that’s only the start. With +1 in search results, webmasters have very little control over who votes for their site. However, Google is going a little further and this is where things get truly interesting. Imagine what happens when someone clicks the +1 button on a page of your website. Google now knows that someone thinks your content is useful. It’s the same as getting a backlink from another site – someone says “this guy knows his stuff”.

Of course, we won’t know for a little while how much of an impact the +1 button has on search rankings, but I think it’s pretty safe to assume Google will take it into account.

In fact, Matt Cutts – the head of the Web Spam division at Google – has repeatedly said in the past that they want to integrate social interaction into determining content quality. Presumably there was an issue with spam regulation, but now that the +1 button has been rolled out, it’s only a matter of time before this very social tool becomes an important part of their algorithm. After all, they track, monitor, and gather all the results from those clicks. You can bet they’ll use the data.

Further supporting this is a quote from the Webmaster Central blog:

“We expect that these personalized annotations will help sites stand out by showing users which search results are personally relevant to them. As a result, +1’s could increase both the quality and quantity of traffic to the sites people care about.

But the +1 button isn’t just for search results. We’re working on a +1 button that you can put on your pages too, making it easy for people to recommend your content on Google search without leaving your site.”

That last line in particular is interesting to me because it basically says right out that Google will soon try to use these +1 recommendations to influence search results.

If there’s anything we know for sure, guessing Google’s intentions is tricky. But, with so much evidence pointing toward social integration into search and the +1 button finally rolled out, I can safely say that a smart webmaster and Internet marketer will keep a close eye on these tools. Soon enough, I believe this tool will become a fantastic resource to better connect with readers while improving rankings in Google.

For more details about the +1 button and Google’s plan for it, here are some links:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/03/introducing-1-button.html
or http://www.google.com/+1/button/

Good Luck Everyone!
Adam Short

P.S. If you enjoyed the above post, make sure you check out my Niche Profit Classroom product.

Note: The above guest blog post by Adam Short may not reflect the views and opinions of Affilorama.