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Ever since the beginning of March Google has been rolling out its new +1 button.

You may have seen it by the side of search results, as well as next to Google ads:

google-homepage-screenshot

The +1 button is essentially a way to recommend content to your friends and contacts, in the same way the Facebook Like button currently works.

Over the past month these +1 buttons have also been appearing on websites, so it’s not just search results people can recommend, but specific sites and pieces of content too.

At first Google partnered with the likes of Techcrunch, Mashable and The Huffington Post and included the button in the same places you’d find the Facebook Like button as well as a share on Twitter or maybe Stumble Upon button. The next step was for Google to add the button to a number of its properties, like Blogger and YouTube.

But is the Google +1 button important and do you need it on your website?

Why is it important?

Once someone has pressed the +1 button next to a search result, website or piece of content, when their friends search for something similar, they’ll see these previous recommendations. Google has added this feature in an attempt to make searching much more helpful and relevant.

As we’ve explored before, social media activity can boost search rankings, so Google will also use this +1 information to determine where a website shows up on the results pages. Although it’s not the only factor, the more +1’s you get, the better chance there’ll be of your website showing up higher on Google’s search rankings.

Therefore, it’s important for businesses to make it as easy as possible for people to +1 content, as other people will see recommendations from in their network and this could then help your website to rank higher in search results in the long run.

The users who have +1’d something will also have a list of everything they’ve ever recommended on their Google profile, which people can see through Google+. So, if someone presses the +1 button on your website, it’ll be stored on their profile forever, which is a great endorsement!

How do I add it to my website?

There are a few different ways a Google +1 button can be added to your site or blog and it involves inserting a piece of code into the back-end of your website. Therefore, it’s best to talk to a developer about exactly where you want the button to be and how you want it to work with the rest of your site.

You can get in touch with one of the Codastar team today to talk about adding a +1 button onto your website so people can easily recommend your content to others, there are a number of options available and we can help you chose the one that suits you.

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