A few months ago Google released their +1 feature to compete directly with Facebook’s “Like” button.  The purpose of this button is to suggest web content to friends in your social network by letting them know when you’ve +1’d a particular website. The theory suggests if you or one of your friends approves of a website, then chances are you will like it too. It’s estimated that Google +1 has over 30 million users and rising. The big question all of the SEO community wants to know is “what impact does this have on search results?

After Google + 1 was released,I noticed many websites installing a +1 button in addition to their Tweet and Facebook Like options. It didn’t take long for us to notice that people were beginning to endorse content using all three of these buttons. There is no question that Google is going to start factoring in these votes into their search engine rankings. The big question is were all asking around the office is “will this replace all other forms of SEO”?

Begin Developing a Google + 1 Strategy Before Your Competition Does.

It’s important to begin a Google + 1 strategy before your competition does in order to utilize this new SEO tool first. Before you install a plus 1 plugin, make preparations to have your web pages optimized for speed. The Google + 1 plugin will increase a page’s load time after installation. The decrease in page loading time will be offset by the benefits of this plugin, so don’t let this fact deter you from installing it.

Inform Clients About The Potential Benefits of Google Plus 1

A client website content can benefit dramatically from Google plus 1 in the future. It’s a unique way to pass along information through a network of people that extends far beyond the initial visitor that initially plus 1’d your client’s website. This doesn’t have a significant impact on how Google currently ranks it’s search queries, but it only take a few minutes to install on a clients website. We have begun discussions with our client’s about the potential benefits Google + 1 will have in the future. I strongly suggest that your business capitalizes on this before your competition does.

In the meantime stick with the proven methods of establishing quality SEO, but don’t forget about Google Plus 1. It appears that this social network phenomena has exited the pages of Facebook and will have a more profound impact on how people search in the years to come.

When Twitter initially became popular I really didn’t understand it’s appeal.  I didn’t understand the significance of knowing what celebrities or friends were doing at any given moment.  When I started noticing TMZ and other programs that focus on celebrities mentioning Twitter feeds, I realized that this could become something that could rival Facebook. I currently work for an SEO company and we have begun to focus on ways to utilize the way twitter feeds now show up on search engines.

Recently Google announced that it had plans to unveil a new version of Twitter that would give it’s users more relevant results when running a search query.  I personally didn’t realize how important this would be until I was informed that it would use images in addition to text when preforming a search.

Twitter may in fact become a relevant rival to the most popular methods of search that are used today because they choose to incorporate three valuable pieces of data in a search query (Top, All or with links).  This gives the user more relevant results that pertain to their specific search queries.  When you run a search you now have the option of having both images that contain links that can lead you to a larger pool of information than the previous method twitter preformed their searches.

Another great improvement is when searching for particular data on a friend, company or celebrity, you can use the @(name of company or friend)  and then be taken to their twitter feed regardless if you are on twitter.  That’s right folks, these searches can be plugged into any search engine and transported to twitter without the need to switch websites.

So how will these new updates impact the way companies preform SEO?  It’s a question that has been floating around our office and it appears that tweeting alone will have an impact on search rankings.  But don’t be mislead to believe that tweeting will replace conventional SEO in any way.  There is no doubt that Google is taking a closer look at social networking sites in their algorithms, but they won’t have as large of an impact on search rankings that certain people believe.

The way SEO operates literally changes on a daily basis, but one thing is for sure when it comes to twitter.  Don’t neglect your twitter audience and be aware of the new photo features.  Since the inception of twitter I went from a person that thought the concept was silly to a believer that Twitter will continue to have an impact on SEO results.

So in the meantime keep your Twitter fan base happy, but by no means abandon the methods of SEO that are proven to work.  Do you feel that the Twitter changes to their search will have a major impact on the SEO world as we know it?

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