Google introduced the Google +1 button recently and many of you might still be asking what is it? A new social feature?

Similar to the “Like” button on Facebook, the Google +1 is a simply way to like Google search results. When you’re signed into your Google account, every Google search result will have a +1 icon next to it. If you like the search result, just press on the +1 icon. By hitting the +1 icon, you are giving the search result a recommendation, or a stamp of approval.

So, the Google +1 is definitely a social feature. You can see what your friends +1’d, which in turn will more likely encourage you to click on a search result.

Check out the Google +1 button video on YouTube

If you haven’t noticed, the +1 button is now added to YouTube videos, under “Share”.

Adding Google +1 Button to your website

You can create your +1 button using Google’s creation tool.

Once ready, copy the script tag and place it onto your web page. You can place it between the <head> tags or in the footer before the </body> tag.

<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js”></script>

Next, copy and place the button script where you want the +1 button to display on your webpage.

<g:plusone></g:plusone>

 

For more information on creating the +1 button and/or the advanced options of button, please refer to Google’s +1 Button API

Adding Google +1 to Your WordPress Blog

If you do a search on the WordPress.org Plugin Directory, you will see there are currently 500+ and counting plugins that adds the  Google +1 button to your pages, posts, sidebar or anywhere you want on your blog.

However, if you want to add the scripts in manually (in fear of incompatibility between the +1 plug-in and your existing plugins), you can also do so by adding the +1 script and button codes to your theme file.

1.     Go to the Appearance section in your WordPress dashboard and click on “Editor”.

2.     Find the “footer.php” file in the template you’re using.

3.     Add the following line just before the </body> tag.

<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js”></script>

4.     Click on “Update”.

Then, add the button code wherever you want the +1 button to appear. For example if you want to add the button to your blog sidebar, you can simply add it as a text widget via the “Widgets” section.

You can also add the +1 button to individual posts by entering the button code in the body of the post, or by adding it the post.php template file.

Things you need to know about the +1 Button

1.     The +1 button will influence search rankings, as confirmed by Google’s David Byttow: “We expect that these personalized annotations will help sites stand out by showing users which search results are personally relevant to them… We’ll also start to look at +1’s as one of the many signals we use to determine a page’s relevance and ranking, including social signals from other services.”

2.     Once you click on a +1 button, a link to the content will appear under the +1’s tab in your Google Profile.

3.     The +1 Button is not the same as Google Buzz – 1’s do not allow for comments.

4.     By placing the <script> tag at the bottom of the document, just before the body close tag, Google says you may improve loading speed of the page (which is another factor Google takes into account in terms of ranking).

5.     Google says by adding +1 buttons to your pages can help your ads stand out: “By giving your visitors more chances to +1 your pages, your search ads and organic results might appear with +1 annotations more often. This could lead to more–and better qualified–traffic to your site.

6.     The button is not available on mobile search results yet.

For more information on the Google +1 Button, you can visit Google’s website.

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