Google +1 – It’s Finally Live, But Will It Matter?

Leading up to Google’s release of the +1 (Plus One) sharing tool, there was a lot of speculation about what it was going to do, how much it would help a internet home business, and whether or not it was important enough to merit your attention.  Well, now it’s live and everyone is still asking the same questions.  There have been several preliminary tests related to how much it will and all of the results seem to be negligible in terms of the big picture.  So the big question, is now that it’s live, does it really matter?

1.It Will Matter, But How Much?
Of course it is going to matter because it’s a Google product, but that doesn’t mean it is going to be a game-changer.  If you expect Google +1 to help you leap up the search engine rankings, then you will be disappointed  They key is to keep it in perspective, more importantly understand what it really is.  While Google did officially state that it would impact search engine rankings, it is really more of a social tool than anything else.  It will like have a similar impact to Twitter and Facebook, in that it can affect search engine social results.

Currently, at the bottom of each search page, there could be a handful of links to websites that normally wouldn’t be there.  They come from Twitter and Facebook friend/follower information.  Normally, they will say something like “XYZ liked this” and it will be a link to a page that received Facebook votes from one of your friends.  Google +1 will likely end up effecting search results in this way.





2.Should You Use It?
You should definitely use Google +1, insofar that you should add it to your blog or website.  It likely won’t have an impact big enough to justify trying to buy Google +1 clicks or really pushing people to share your content with Google +1 over another social media profile.  It will never hurt that Google sees your content being shared with their sharing tool, but it likely won’t have much more value than Facebook or Twitter until it becomes more established.

For every great tool or feature that Google has created, another tool has failed.  Google Wave was a great example of a tool that was good in theory, but never really came to fruition.  Google +1 will likely be a sharing tool that people who already rely primarily on Google tools such as Gmail, Chrome, and other similar resources will use heavily.  At the same time, most other people won’t give it a second look.  From this point of view, your specific customer base or niche could play a large role in how much this tool will actually help you.

In the end, Google +1 is something that will affect the search engine rankings and it should be a sharing icon that you should add to your website or blog.  At the same time, it likely won’t play a big enough role to justify dedicating a lot of time and resources to make it focal point of your social strategy.  This could change over the next few years for the better or for worse.  Since the future of Google +1 is hazy at best, it is something that you should continually keep your eye on.  It may prove to the next best thing or just another bust from Google.

 





June 18, 2011  Tags: ,   Posted in: business resources

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