Google Rolls Out the +1 Button - parallels the Facebook "Like"

[RonPK]

[googleblog.blogspot.com...]

We’ll be slowly rolling out +1’s, starting in English on Google.com. [..] Initially, +1’s will appear alongside search results and ads, but in the weeks ahead they’ll appear in many more places (including other Google products and sites across the web).

To me it seems unpractical to first visit a site and then go back to the SERP to +1 it. So I guess there will soon be buttons for publishers too.

[StoutFiles]

who would trade off a Google "digg style" like button, that doesn't bring traffic over a Facebook like/share that will deliver traffic.

It's not anyone ever removes the widgets, they just put it next to it.

[fb crap] [twit crap] [digg crap] [stumble crap] [google crap] etc, etc, ad nauseum

[mrguy]

This is the answer to Facebook?

I don't think 600 millions users of Facebook are going to be rushing over to Google just so they can use the +1 feature.

Another epic fail.

However, for ranking purposes, let the games begin.

And Facebook tells us that is not in the cards

As if companies don't bend the truth to keep their cards hidden. Don't think they don't notice Google's attempt to eat into their user base.

The difference being once Facebook does deploy a web better search experience within Facebook, it's a game changer.

[marketingmagic]

Anyone know how many registered users Google has?

[aleksl]

StoutFiles:
I'd rather have my sites fade into oblivion then play these stupid games.

I wonder when Webmaster World will add their +1 to this site? Yeah, I can see the stupid Tweet and Like buttons down there.

Share the sentiment. Why do I need to share all my user's stats with another alphabet agency / tavistock-style social experiment they are running? Zero reason. Now Google joining the data collection effort.

I want a "facebook/tweet" opt-out option on Webmasterworld, I don't really enjoy it much that my data is being send to their crowd control servers. Here, I said it, someone needed to say this out loud.

[netmeg]

Meh. Normal people don't have Google profiles, won't see a compelling reason to create one. They're too busy liking and sharing stuff on Facebook. To my mind, Google went about this the wrong way around - build the community first, and THEN worry about buttons. They've tried to build the commmunity with things like Buzz and whatnot, but so far they just don't have that shiny thing that will distract people from their FB accounts. So we'll place the buttons for a while, and then some time late this year or early next, it will quietly be discontinued.

[Shaddows]

Normal people don't have Google profiles, won't see a compelling reason to create one

Gmail?

On that subject, how long before a Bing "like" button (Or "Mmmm$"). Loads of people have Live accounts, with MSN and Hotmail.

[Joshmc]

I tend to agree with netmeg, i can see webmasters +1ing everything they can but I see it being a non factor for most users...

[netmeg]

Gmail?

Not quite the same thing.

[StupidScript]

@netmeg: Actually, Gmail is perfectly valid, with regard to the +1 mechanism. As long as you are signed into your "Google Account" (including Gmail), you can see/click the +1's.

For the few of you who are wondering if you can un+1 a link ... yes, you can.

For those of you who are figuring that simply creating a few thousand new Gmail accounts will help you game the +1 system, or that your thousands of employees can be happily +1'ing your website from the comfort of their offices ... you might want to re-think, a bit.

You'll need to be active and "random" enough in each of those accounts ... distinctively ... in order to "fool" the system into thinking you're not trying to game them. And if thousands of clicks are coming to the same domain from the same IP block ... that's probably a red flag, too.

Perhaps you missed all of the news about how much data Google collects from its subscribers, and to what lengths they go to create profiles. If you simply create some new accounts and start clicking +1's, your clicks won't count, and your accounts will get dropped. Your activity will need to (a) fit the profile of a real human being and (b) be over a certain age with (c) a bunch of distinctive, human-type click behavior data in order to be counted as a valid account.

That last bit is speculation, but if a simple person like myself can think of it, I'm pretty sure something along those lines is in the works at Google, too.

[realmaverick]

Gmail is a Google account. A massive amount of people use Gmail.

I'd have guessed this won't effect SERPS. Too easily manipulated. Especially by large communities or those fond of playing about with IP addresses.

It may of course effect CTR. Higher +1 may indicate higher quality to the user.

[austtr]

My gut feeling is that the spin Google has put on this is not the whole story. The only people likely to be pro-active in making +1 recommendations will be web owners/developers with a vested interest in the site(s), trying to spam their way to better rankings.

Joe Public hasn't a clue about a Google Account and is never going to sign up for one, not to mention stay logged-in at all times just in case they MIGHT see a site they like. Never going to happen.

Talk about this feature being Google's answer to Facebook's Like button seems ludicrous. It boils down to comparing "likes" from any FB member with no vested interest in a page to +1's from just Google Account members most of whom have a vested interest in liking their own sites. There is no comparison.

Google knows all that, so what else is happening here?

Even though the number of pages getting a +1 will only ever be a tiny fraction of FB likes, Google could still end up with a database that has a considerable number of pages (I'm assuming they will be able to block multiple clicking rorts). We know Google likes "human edited/approved" and that is basically what these pages will be. And in the time honoured way, Google is using members to collect the data for them.

Google has stated there will be ongoing refinements to the Pando algo. Why wouldn't they interrogate all the data they can get from the pages in the +1 database to further improve their quality indicators? It would come as no surprise to find that the +1 feature is a part of the drive to continually improve their quality indicator template so they can more accurately recognize the poor quality crud and keep it out of the top rankings.

Rankings could become a bit like doing a finger print analysis... the fewer points of match Google finds between a page and their ever evolving quality indicator template, the further down the rankings a site should rank. The more points of match, the higher the ranking.

Just my 2c

[Forbin001]

The thing to remember is that google has shareholders. The stock price of google at the time of this writing is $586 a share (just type GOOG in a google search to check yourself) and they dont take this lightly. They know that billions of dollars are invested in the company and the main reason why is the high quality of their search results.


Google has experimented with stuff like this before, they will monitor and experiment with it and it will be a short while before it flames out.


So dont panic!

[CMidd]

< moved from another location >

in my personal opinion "like it really matters to anyone here" Google "Like" copy cat was the total opposite of what they should be doing.

Instead of a +1 trying to emulate Facebook's system "which they will not be able to do"

They should of made a -1 of 1 down, or This is Crap button.

Google 1 Down statement: To better help us deliver you the best result possible, we are enabling the "-1, 1 Down, This is crap button". if you complete a Google search and are led to page/site which you feel is crap, you can now report it, and warn others. After enough report that site will be manually reviewed and lowered in our index. You will also be able to see page/sites people in you network flagged as crap in you results, helping you to Avoid it LMAO;

also if you click on a site and immediately go back to the result a voluntary 2 question yes/no survey will pop up.
Question "1. Did this site answer you query? 2.Is this site crap"



Just my worthless opinion.

[edited by: tedster at 3:31 am (utc) on Apr 1, 2011]

[emmab21]

I understand why Google are making these changes but am I the only person who things a lot of these changes are favoured towards more B2C type websites?

I work in a B2B industry and as much as I've tried to ramp up our social media presents it's not really taken off, not just for my company, our sector in general.

I agree with Sgt_kickaxe, big companies get more popular, small brands stand less chance of exposure.

[Wlauzon]

If old sites have millions of +1's, how do new sites ever get above the bottom of the barrel if they are used in ranking?

[tedster]

The +1 will be one of many, many signals. Today's algo isn't linear or additive - it doesn't work by allowing jsut so many possible points for A and so many for B and total them up. It's a more complex system of machine learning with feedback loops, different classifications, and checks to see whether any particular signal might be manipulated.

There will always be ways to get a new site going. Even for established sites, it's got to be rare that they are sending every possible signal.

[fabulousyarn]

New Overseas Job Description: +1 er

[aristotle]

I've never had any interest in Facebook or Like-type buttons, and I've always assumed that these types of things were beneath the dignity of top quality websites. I certainly don't intend to put anything like this on my own sites. So I'm really surprised to see so much support for them in this thread.

[mromero]

"I want a "facebook/tweet" opt-out option on Webmasterworld, I don't really enjoy it much that my data is being send to their crowd control servers. Here, I said it, someone needed to say this out loud. "

I second or third the motion. I utterly dislike the tweet / like buttons littering webmasterworld.

Why can't they just be on the Home Page?

They should be opt in or at least disabled for paid up members.

And why do paid up members have a banner on the top right asking you to subscribe - something is screwed up here.......

As for the plus button - it does not pass the smell test.

[Bewenched]

I still dont see the +1 button thingy even when I'm logged in to my google account. Long rollout?

[crobb305]

I still dont see the +1 button thingy even when I'm logged in to my google account. Long rollout?

I haven't seen it either.

[Robert Charlton]

From Google's announcement... [googleblog.blogspot.com...]

My emphasis...

That’s why we recently started to include more information from people you know — stuff they’ve shared on Twitter, Flickr and other sites—in Google search results.

I wonder what the likelihood is that you're actually going to trip over pages in a serp that people you know have shared.

I'm not talking about reading the same pages that others you know have read... I'm talking about searching for them. Seems to me it would take a while before you started seeing them.

[MelissaLB]

I still dont see the +1 button thingy even when I'm logged in to my google account. Long rollout?


I haven't seen it either.

We haven't seen it either. Who is seeing it? Only certain locations possibly? We're in Canada and have yet to notice anything different about serps in weeks.

[tedster]

This new article may help clear up the mystery somewhat. Currently +1 is apparently an experiment that you need to sign up for.

To participate in this experiment:

1. Make sure you're signed into your Google Account (required)
2. Click 'Join this experiment'
3. Search for something you love on Google.com
4. Click the new +1 button, and make your mark on the web

[google.com...]

[WebFusion]

< moved from another location >

With Google's new +1 Button on the way (http://www.google.com/+1/button/), I was thinking....

Why could it now be used to help webmasters improve the quality of their sites - giving both the user and Google what they want in the process?

A webmaster interface showing us the +1 "scores" of each page would be very telling to show us exactly which pages need to be improved in our user's eyes.

Thoughts?

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 1:50 am (utc) on May 5, 2011]

[RonPK]

SearchEngineLand and TechCrunch report that the button will be launched today (Wednesday). Webmasters can put the button on their sites and view statistics in Webmaster Central. An official announcement should be coming soon on Google's blog...

[mrmobility]

Maybe I'm of base here but surely +1 will only affect results coming from my 'social circle'? If that is the case it'll be harder to game as your +1ers will have to already be in the circle of the searching customer

[levo]

Here is the cached copy of +1 presentation at Google IO

[static.googleusercontent.com...]

It includes code snippet/samples..

[indyank]

This is the best in that pdf:

"The +1 button on your site gives your users more opportunity to click".

lol...

[Reno]

From the google blog:

"Our goal at Google is to get you the most relevant results as quickly as possible ... Today we’re taking that a step further, enabling you to share recommendations with the world ... We’re confident that +1, combined with all of the social content we’re now including in search, will mean even better, more relevant results than you get today."

From coachm:

"As social factors increase in importance, the point of creating original, thought leading, anything OTHER than simple mass content is removed ... There is now very little incentive to publish new ideas and thoughts to move fields forward, not only because it's hard to monetize, but because no one will see it because it won't have 'buzz' ... Finding the best content in niches from true authorities (scientists, academics, book authors that don't get buzz) has become harder and harder, and now the curation role is cooked."

From James Fenimore Cooper:

"The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity."

..................................