Could Adding a Google +1 Button Help Your SEO Efforts?

Rumor has it, adding a Google +1 button to your website could help your SEO efforts.

Earlier this year, Google introduced its own social network, Google+ – believed by many to be the company’s answer to Facebook. While Google+ is not yet available for businesses (it’s coming soon, they say), businesses can still take advantage of Google+ right now by utilizing Google’s answer to the Facebook “Like” button.

You may have noticed that little “+1” button next to the results in your Google searches. Clicking that button is roughly the equivalent of liking that page (or result) and recommending it to the people you’re connected with through your Google account. As you +1 pages, your recommendations will be shared with the people you’re connected with via your Google account. The video below explains the concept more fully.

According to rumors in the SEO community, increasing the amount of +1s your website has will help improve your search engine rankings on Google. Therefore, as you seek to grow your vacation rental business, you’ll want to put a +1 button in all the places you would normally put a Facebook like button: on your website, on your blog, etc.

You can generate the html code for the +1 button here. The video below shows how the +1 button helps give searchers recommendations, and provides instructions for how to add the button to your website. And, if you use WordPress for your blog, there are a lot of great social media plug-ins that include the Google +1 button (no coding experience necessary).

If you’re interested in the increasingly important intersection of SEO and social media, check out our recent blog on social search. And, to see the Google +1 button in action on a website, go to LiveRez.com. And, be sure to +1 us!