Google + 1 = Necessary

If you haven’t added the Google +1 button to your website, what are you waiting for?

Google first started experimenting with the +1 button last March. It has now evolved to a present day must have for all websites. The button basically allows people who love your content to recommend it on Google search, thus giving your site a public stamp of approval.

The button is offered in four different sizes:

• Small (15px)
• Standard (24px)
• Medium (20px)
• Tall (60px)

Google also explains, “You can make sure Google displays +1 annotations for the most search results possible by adding the rel=”canonical” property to the non-preferred versions of each page. This property should point to the canonical version, like this:

< link rel="canonical" href="http://www.example.com/product.php?item=swedish-fish&sort=alpha">

This tells Google: “Of all these pages with identical content, this page is the most useful. Please prioritize it in search results.” Now, when a user +1’s a page with a non-canonical URL, Google will associate that +1 with the canonical, preferred version.

Additionally, once you add the button, Google may crawl or recrawl the page, and store the page title and other content, in response to a +1 button impression or click.

Learn more about the Google+ project and what it means for you and your business.