Well, here comes Google’s first real shot at Facebook, introducing the +1 button, essentially, Google’s own “like” button and a step into social that will start appearing for people who have joined the experiment in Google Labs. The +1 button will hit search results from this week, allowing people to “+1″ search results, leaving a visual recommendation for your friends to see.
This button provides a few things for Google, firstly, a dramatic increase in “Google Profile” setups (something that just really hasn’t performed well) that really needs to hit a critical mass to have the same social acquisition effect that Facebook is enjoying.
Secondly, it’s about ad targeting data… Facebook are now clear leaders in terms of display ads, and will dominate over the next few years while they are the only ones letting advertisers leverage user-defined profile information to develop highly targeted ad campaigns, Google doesn’t have this, and they need it to compete in a social world.
Then comes the SEO puzzle, what impact will hundreds of +1′s have on your page ranking? Is this going to become another “click fraud” style issue? And don’t forget all the recommendation engine’s Google could pull out of it, and how they could mine that social data… Exciting times are ahead this year, so make sure you join the +1 button experiment here. More on this another day!
What about -1 button that would be equally as important. I more want to be warned about crap which more and more is a problem using Google.
I like the question regarding possible seo issues in the future. This is fairly similar to the hype around Google instant (predicted search), which I previously wrote about at http://ow.ly/4u8QS. Will the additional clicks on the +1 button calculate as site clicks in analytics, as fraudulent clicks, or does the Google algorithm account for this button already and they will only be calculated as +1 click data?
If they are seen as general site clicks, then the site that has the most +1’s will naturally start showing higher in Google, which makes the +1 button invaluable to site owners, for better positions in the search results!!
I like the reference to Facebook’s specific targeting via personal interest, which Google can’t really do on the display network. Google have very basic demographical targeting. However, I don’t agree that FB are the ‘leaders in display ads and will dominate over the next few years’. Facebook ads can only show on FB. So while they are cheap (currently) and targeted well, they will never have the same kind of reach as GDN. They are 2 different types of platforms.
But, I do agree that if Google generate a huge uplift in ‘Google profile setups’, then they can tap into more targeted data about their searchers, and this will help streamline the display network ads. By utilising ‘profiles’ Google can start to further develop the GDN and make it much larger and more affective, but this isn’t enough for them to compete in the social world. They would need to completely redesign ‘profiles’ and make it much more cutting edge, as I discuss in my blog post at http://ow.ly/4tjDT . Love to hear your thoughts on there too!
I don’t see this being a ‘click fraud’ issue or the system being easily gamed. As will come down to the authority of the users account, what kind of content they are ‘+1′ where google have all the data there, it will be an authority & history account issue which will really limit the gaming of the system I believe.
Nick
When it comes to innovation, no one can beat Google. This +1 feature would certainly provide Google an edge over Facebook. While Facebook are the leaders in terms of display ads, the day is not to far away when Google will be dominating the entire Social Media planet.
http://www.facebook.com/vizzmedia
They should also work out their iphone app because it is not possible to do basic things from it like for example to erase a comment you have posted yourself!!
My comment is for the fb iphone app!
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