Google’s +1 button was introduced in March of 2011 and many people had doubts about the new social venture of the search giant. But Google had no other choice but to get on the social bandwagon, and brought social and search together into a social search.
Google’s +1 button shares many similarities to Facebook’s like, but in the world where over 50% of a website’s traffic comes from Google, the +1 button all of a sudden becomes a powerful tool. Unfortunately, just like with any social phenomenon, it takes a while to reach a significant mass. Nine months later, Google has reached this critical mass and is now integrating +1 button into its search algorithm. The integration into search algorithm brings a whole new level to a developing social venture. As you may know, there are several elements in Google’s algorithm, including inbound and outbound links, fresh content, headers, meta tags and others. With +1, Google now introduced a social component that is going to play a role similar to Google’s quality score in the AdWords Program. Sites will increasingly rely upon +1 button to achieve higher search rankings hence more visitors to their websites. However, in order to achieve that the website content is going to be even more important than ever before, because at the end of the day that is how you’re going to get more +1s.
Bottom line, +1 button isn’t exactly similar to a Facebook “like”; it is a lot more powerful! If you are a business, integrating a +1 button into your website should be on the top of your to do list. With Google’s ever-changing search algorithm, you always have to be ready.