Me Talking Social Search with Fourth Source

Posted in Press on July 19th, 2011 by Matthew

Yesterday I discussed in an article over at Fourth Source how social media is impacting Search in 2011. The main topic of consideration was that of the new Google+1 button, and the addition of a new social media site, Google+. For those of you living under a rock, the Google+1 button is set to rival the Facebook Like button, while Google+ aims to rival Facebook as a social network.

The main consideration of the article is how these recent developments are going to affect search itself – so if search is a big part of your marketing mix then it’s well worth a read. The negative aspects of +1, along with other social networking sites, also get a mention in the article.

You may be interested to read more of my regular posts on the Fourth Source website, where you can also find the rest of my views on how social media is impacting Search in 2011.

+1 Arrives on Websites but can it compete with Facebook & Twitter?

Posted in Google, Social Media on June 10th, 2011 by Matthew Read

Less than 2 months after the Google +1 feature made its first appearance in the US search results, Google has released +1 buttons that can be placed directly on web pages. Using a small snippet of code, the button can be placed on a web page in a similar fashion to the Tweet and Facebook Like buttons.

The idea behind adding the +1 feature to the Google search results is to make each person’s results more personalised and also more social, promoting sites in their results that they and they contacts have liked with the +1 button.

With the new +1 button directly on sites this idea continues, with people being able to +1 individual pages and pieces of content on a site, as well as the actual site itself within the Google search results. But will people use it?

Competition with Facebook and Twitter
When it comes to the Google search engine, the +1 button can completely dominate as neither Facebook nor Twitter can add their buttons to the search results, and therefore the only option to like or promote a site will be through +1. However, when it comes to actual web pages, the Google +1 button may struggle to compete with the Facebook Like and Tweet buttons.

The idea behind the Facebook and Twitter buttons is to allow users to share the piece of content amongst their friends, through their own personal profiles. So, for example, the web browser sees a great blog post about a new Google feature, Tweets it, which puts a link to the post into their Twitter stream, and then the users followers can go straight to the recommended piece of content.

It is the same concept with the Facebook Like button but with +1 the idea seems to fall away slightly. Yes if you hit the +1 button people within your Google address book will be able to see it but you are not really promoting it on a profile or sharing it in an open format.

Sharing Content or Promoting the Site?
With +1 you are essentially saying you approve of the site and are promoting it in your personal search results, whereas with Tweet and Like you are sharing it. +1 then doesn’t seem to really fall in line with the Twitter and Facebook buttons and so may receive less attention because of this.

In fact, it is only early days, but if you look at sites that have already integrated this new +1 button, alongside Tweet and Like, you can see that it is not generating nearly as many clicks.

Of course as people become more aware of +1 and it becomes common on sites it will be used more, but will people develop a greater affinity to +1 than Facebook and Twitter? Google are dominant in practically every area of online but, for now at least, they are 3rd place in the rankings for social.

Google Goes Social with +1

Posted in Google, SEO on April 6th, 2011 by Matthew Read

At the end of last week Google announced that it would be rolling out the new +1 feature on the UK search engine, in an attempt to make search results more personalised and more importantly more social.

The new feature will add a +1 button to the side of natural and paid search results, which will work similarly to the Facebook Like button. As Google put it, you can “Click +1 to publicly give something your stamp of approval. Your +1′s can help friends, contacts, and others on the web find the best stuff when they search.”

So by giving something a +1 you will be promoting it and affecting its position in not only your own personal rankings but in those of your close connections and search as a whole. There is the potential then, for this to have a big impact for SEO and natural rankings.

The impact on SEO
This new +1 feature definitely plays into what appears to be a new social heavy strategy by Google, with Tweets and Facebook likes appearing to have a greater and greater impact on indexation of pages and site rankings.

This new feature also seems to continue the approach of the new Panda update that removed a lot of mass, ‘farmer’ content from Google and the new Blocked feature that allows users to block, what they consider to be, rubbish low value domains from their search results ( a kind of -1).

All in all then this could really change the nature of how websites optimise for Google, with a heavier shift towards social. What’s more, if, as many suspect, Google do purchase Twitter in the coming weeks, then, given the data they will have at their finger tips, a shift to social does make sense.

Problems with +1
However, although +1 does have the potential to make Google much more personalised and social, it is still likely to face one or two teething problems.

For example, if your search results are based on your Tweets, Facebook Likes and +1, what about the people not on these social networks? They exist too! Is it reasonable to base these people’s searches on user behaviour in a sector they take no part in and have no interest in?

Another point is that although this sounds like a great idea, it may just not ever happen. Currently there is no +1 button that people can add to their sites (like the Tweet and Like buttons) which means you have to +1 it in the search results.

Now, if you haven’t been on the site before you won’t know if you want to +1 it. So, this means going onto the site, deciding you like it and then bouncing back off it to +1 it. For some reason, I can’t imagine people taking the time or changing their search behaviour to do this.

If Google +1 works and takes off it could create the biggest social network we have ever seen, trumping both Twitter and Facebook, and completely revolutionise search results.

However, it may well be that we are not yet at the peak of social and that people, on mass, won’t really adapt their search behaviour towards the +1 for a few years.

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