The powerful search engine Google, who does not require much (if not any) introduction, has been trying to “go social” for quite some time; Google Wave and Google Buzz were just the beginning. Recently, Google made an announcement on their blog that they will start introducing a “+1” button to Google search.
Apparently, the +1 button is similar to the Facebook “Like” button, but it can give a different perspective to the way that people search. The “+1” button will appear next to the search results on Google.com. For now, the Social Circle is based on the data that come from Gmail, Google Talk, Google Contacts, Google Reader and Google Buzz and Google says that in the near future they will incorporate it with 3rd party networks and social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc., thus allowing users to recommend and share content with their friends and the rest of the world. In order to see the +1 button, you must be logged in to your Google account & go to Google’s experimental site.
This is going to be another great way of marketing businesses. People are more likely to click on the pages, ads or search results that have been +1’d by someone they know and trust. The users will be able to see the total number of people that have +1’d a particular page along with the names and the pictures of the people that belong to their social circle. Also, Pages that have been +1’d are more likely to be crawled or re-crawled by Google. As they mention in their FAQ, Google might crawl the pages and store the title and content in response to a +1 button impression or click. This new feature sure is expected to have a major impact on the SEO and on the Social Media marketing. To what extent & how will it change the way that people search and share content? That we have to wait and see. I am excited to try it!
(See video below)