Google has rolled out a new way for people to share what they are interested in and increase the relevance of some sites. With something reminiscent of the “Like” feature on Facebook, Google introduced the Google +1 feature. With the push of a button, you will now be able to “Plus One” a site and show other searchers that you like it. Your friends, through Google’s new social network project Google Plus, will be able to see what sites you Plus One and other searchers will be able to see how many Plus Ones a site has when they search for it.
There is speculation that is widely accepted as fact that the amount of Plus Ones that your website has will affect the ranking of your site, which will increase the pressure on websites to remain relevant and attractive to users. The Plus One feature will certainly help boost the popularity of Google’s new Google Plus social network. As of this writing, access to this social network is by invitation only from an existing user and may even be frozen from that. This is possibly due to the large amount of users activating accounts. Frankly, we suggest to anyone with a site, get a Google +1 button installed on your site as soon as possible.
Plus One is looking to change the way that people search online and share popular sites. What will this feature do to the search engine landscape? Will websites that have been heavily Plus One’d bury all of the websites that have not? Only time will tell. One thing is for sure, Google’s Plus One feature is taking off and their social network is soon to follow, once it is opened up for outsider registrations. As always, Site Smart Marketing will keep you posted.
