Google’s +1 Button Increases Traffic

Experts agree that the +1 button, which in the future will be associated with Google+, is going to have a positive impact on SEO. Similar to the “Like” feature of Facebook, +1 allows people to recommend a website, business or service. The difference with Google+1 is the ability to have that visitor recommendation affect search engine results.

According to a study done by Hubspot, websites that featured Google’s +1 had more traffic than other websites.

“At HubSpot, we looked at data from our entire customer base (more than 5,000 businesses). We compared referral traffic levels from Google+ for websites that have Google’s +1 button installed and for those that don’t. The result? Websites that use Google’s +1 button generated 3.5 times more traffic from Google+ than websites that don’t have the button installed.”

This research shows us how important social sharing buttons are becoming. If you or your clients aren’t using social sharing buttons, now is the time to start. HubSpot points out that in addition to increasing traffic to a site, these buttons can also act as a call-to-action since visitor’s online connections could be interested in the content as well.

What’s great about Google+1 is that it doesn’t require the maintenance that other social sites do. For example, Twitter requires your client to come up with interesting rhetoric daily. Facebook requires your client to engage followers on a consistent basis. While these social sites are important, they're time-consuming. With Google+1 your client simply puts the button on their website and visitors do the rest. How great is that!?!

But hey. To increase traffic it's important to maintain a social presence on all the social sites. Google just makes it a little easier with this button. And seeing as though the +1 button will affect Google’s page rank, it's better to have your client include it on their site so they don’t get lost in the shuffle.

To learn more about the Google+1 button or other social and SEO marketing strategies, contact Machus today.