Article Submission Review

Google +1 Button – Social Feedback To Affect SERP Rankings

• Share

0

Google’s About to Go Social

We’ve been talking to you for some time about the importance of Social Media Marketing in today’s SEO world and about the over all market trends in this direction. That is why we’ve been so active with Synnd – our #1 rated social marketing tool. The fact is that Google has been talking about this for months now and we have seen signs of it on the horizon since the Caffeine update several months back.

The fact is that having a presence in the social media sites is a factor in your rankings today. Do we know exactly how much of a factor? Of course not – no one does. But it is a factor. Google sees that activity – the digg’s and the Tweets and the Facebook likes and it all is an indication or sign that your site is relevant, active and “hip”. This is the concept behind Social Proof – showing or proofing that your site is relevant by having some buzz around it in the right cirtcles.

Farmer Update and Google Chrome

In the recent Farmer update Google discussed how they looked at the sites that had been filtered by users in Google Chrome and though they said that they did not use that data for the farmer update, their reference to it in the same conversation certainly raises eyebrows. If it didn’t, well, it should.

Google Chrome has the ability for a user to flag a site as low quality and have it removed from your search results screens – a personalized search experience. But much more than that is the fact that Google Chrome is really a marketing research tool for Google. By owning and distributing their own browser they can intensely study and examine user search behaviors and patterns. They can also offer these filtering tools and quality flags, etc… so that they can use that data in their algorithm. Now again, we’re not trying to do the fear tactics approach here, this is just a re-statement of what Google has already stated. They have stated that they did not use the data in the Farmer algorithm update, but that they may in future updates. But again, just the fact that it was mentioned in the context of search algorithm modifications says a lot and should give you pause.

Enter Google +1 Button

So, what is the Google +1 Button? In concept it is very similar to a Facebook Like or a Twitter Tweet – a simple way of voting for a site. But the major difference is that this will be presented directly in the SERPS. Google has not released a timeframe for this, but clearly that’s where they are headed – see in the video below for yourself.

 

So, where does this leave you? What will be the consequences of Google +1? All of that is really up in the air at this point. We don’t have any answers for you yet, but one things is very, very clear. You can read more about the Google +1 Button here. The influence of social media on search results is only going to continue to grow. We don’t feel that this will be the end of SEO as we know it or anything crazy like that – just another example of just how fluid SEO really is and how you should be adapting towards this Social craze now and preparing for it.

Suggested Resources

• Synnd Pro Review – a nearly 5000 word in-depth review on using Synnd Pro for social media marketing and social proof to boost your sites rankings, get more buzz and incoming links as well.
• Synnd Lite Review – Synnd has just recently re-opened their doors to this “Lite” version which is a free version – so there’s really no reason to not give it a try.

Summary

This is more of an advisory post than one full of advise and recommendations. The fact is we don’t even know what this Google +1 Button is really going to do or what impact it will have yet. But what is clear is the trend of Social Media Marketing in today’s SEO and it’s clear that if you’re not doing it that your site rankings will be affected.

Stay tuned for more news, information and advice as this topic grows in the months to come. And be sure and chime in below with your comments and feedback – we’d love to hear them!