By zack
Yesterday Google announced the release of their new social search feature, called Google +1. The concept behind +1 is that you’ll get better search results if the people you know share and promote good search results. With the new feature, there is a +1 button next to each Google search result. Clicking this button promotes the content socially within your circle of friends (such as through Google Buzz and Reader), but also the +1 results are aggregated and presented when others perform search results that include a site you voted on.
Google will be rolling this new feature out slowly, but you can get a preview by opting in on the Google experiments page. First, after logging in to Google, click “Join this experiment.”
Click the +1 button and confirm that your vote will be public. Then when someone within your network performs a search that includes the result you rated, such as Forest Lake Funeral Home, they’ll see the +1 vote for that result.
What does this mean for your funeral home?
It’s too early to tell exactly how Google plans to use all of this data. Currently Google says it will influence how the link will appear in search results to people within your social network. In other words, it’ll be easier for folks who know you, or you have contacted via Gmail, to find your funeral home’s website via search.
However, it is not a stretch to believe that Google will be taking these votes into account for everyone’s search results, meaning by voting for your site (particularly within your targeted search terms), you’ll be giving your funeral home an SEO boost and could potentially drive more traffic and customers to your site.
In fact, Google themselves hint at this in their official blog:
Say, for example, you’re planning a winter trip to Tahoe, Calif. When you do a search, you may now see a +1 from your slalom-skiing aunt next to the result for a lodge in the area. Or if you’re looking for a new pasta recipe, we’ll show you +1’s from your culinary genius college roommate. And even if none of your friends are baristas or caffeine addicts, we may still show you how many people across the web have +1’d your local coffee shop.
So give Google +1 a try, and let us know what you think. We’ll be keeping an eye on Google +1 and all of the latest SEO news to ensure our customers stay on top of the SEO game and drive organic traffic back to their websites.
