Google Plus One

Those of you who follow search engine news closely will know that Google officially released the plus one button globally on the 27th of June. You may have noticed the recent addition of the +1 button in search results on Google.co.uk which allows people to recommend your content to other Google users.

Something that immediately struck my attention is the fact that the +1button does not currently show next to local results, although Adwords paid results can be +1′d. Whether this will be addressed at a later date remains to be seen. Google also announced the addition of +1 reporting today in Webmaster tools and Google analytics.

To +1 a site, you must be logged in to a Google account with a public profile, +1′d sites are added to a list within your Google profile, and should a member of your Google network view any of the pages that you have +1′d in the SERPs, that result will be enhanced.

It seems that the +1 button is actually part of a bigger picture, a picture which is now beginning to reveal itself as Google’s latest attempt to break into the world of social media. Named “Google Plus” the social media network will not initially be open to the public, and membership is being granted on a “by invitation only” basis. Information regarding the social media network is thin on the ground at the moment, but it definitely appears that Google are squaring up firmly against social media giants Facebook.