The newest social sharing idea has come from Google, the +1 button. It’s a new way of showing your appreciation of a webpage, and sharing it with your friends. Google has also implemented the +1’s into their page rank algorithm, further changing the SEO game, and adding an additional thing to consider in your online marketing efforts.

This is a great new tool for businesses to integrate into their websites and blog posts. Read on to discover what exactly the button does and how to utilize it for your business today.

What It Is

The +1 button has actually been around since March, although it’s certainly gained more traction and attention lately because of it’s integration into Google’s new social media site, Google Plus (we’ll talk more about Google Plus in a future post, so stay tuned for details on it, as well as our tips and resources on using it). Anyone with a Google account can click the +1 button, regardless if you’re on Google Plus or not. By doing so, your vote of confidence is publicly recorded, essentially giving the site a thumbs up, just like with the Facebook Like button. If you do have a Google Plus account, all of your +1 sites will appear on your profile under +1’s. The button is another great way to allow your site and blog content to be shared and publicized.

What It Means For SEO

Google has also implemented the +1 button into their search engine, although it’s tied with your Google account. So if you have a Google account and you’re logged in, you’ll now see the +1 button next to each search result when you go searching for something at google.com. If people in your social circle have +1’ed something, it will let you know, helping you decide what might be more relevant for you. Your social circle can include anyone on your Gmail or Google talk chat list, people in your Google Plus Circles, people in your Google Reader, Google Buzz, and Google Contacts. For any Google user, this list could be pretty extensive, and is quickly getting larger and larger.

As for the effect on SEO and your page rank in Google, a clear definition can be found in the +1 FAQ:

+1’s from friends and contacts can be a useful signal to Google when determining the relevance of your page to a user’s query. This is just one of many signals Google may use to determine a page’s relevance and ranking, and we’re constantly tweaking and improving our algorithm to improve overall search quality. For +1′s, as with any new ranking signal, we’ll be starting carefully and learning how those signals affect search quality.

How You Can Use It

As you can see the +1 button is relevant right now and could be a very powerful tool for you. There are a couple of places that I would recommend adding this handy new tool. Adding it to your website is a great idea, allowing people to quickly and easily click the button and share your site. I would also recommend adding it to each individual post on your blog. That will make each post sharable, giving you more potential exposure and a larger reach. The button itself is similar to other sharing buttons, and can be easily implemented on your site using Google’s button creation tool.

You must have a Google account to use the button (so if you aren’t a Google user, you should sign up for a free account today!), although anyone can integrate it on their site and allow Google users to start giving your site a +1. More traffic equals more exposure and more potential new customers, which is always a good thing. The +1 button is immediately relevant, and can be a great tool for your online marketing, so it’s a great thing to implement and start using today!