ExcelsiorInteractive

Anyone who has looked at Google Experimental  lately should have noticed a new feature meant to compete with the Facebook Like Button, and it is called the +1 Button (Plus One Button). Similar to the Like button on Facebook, the Google +1 Button is a way to “publicly give something your stamp of approval”. Right now the feature is only found on Google search results and Ads, but in the future you will find it on individual sites, just like you currently find a Like button or a Tweet button on sites. Here is a short video that Google produced to help explain the new feature:

While this new feature should bring a lot of benefit to your site, and it is wise of Google to try to break into the “recommendation” side of the web, there are a few things you should consider before scrapping the Like Button in the name of the +1 Button.

1.) Limited to people with Google profiles. With over 500 million active users, one of the things that make the Facebook Like Button plug-in so useful is that nearly everyone has a Facebook account. Although Google has hundreds of millions of users, there is still only about half the number of users with a Google account as there are active users on Facebook. So, although the +1 Button is a great tool, it is only reaching a fraction of the audience of Facebook.

2.) Natural rankings are still the key to converting on Google. When given a choice between a site with ten +1’s and a site with two +1’s, users will likely end up visiting the site with more +1’s. However, it won’t matter how many +1’s a site has if it is still buried deep within the natural search results. Regardless of what features they add to the search results, the most important goal for a business on Google is to raise your natural ranking.

3.) Google has had difficulty breaking into the social scene. Google Buzz, a social networking and messaging tool from Google, never seemed to reach its potential. In addition to its lack of popularity, Google has also run into some privacy issues with some of the connection features with Google Buzz. Because of this, Google has been unsuccessful in the social community when compared to their massive success in other areas.

4.) Nothing beats Facebook’s ability to share. While Google is clearly trying to match Facebook’s sharing possibilities, right now nothing can compare to Facebook. While most users visit Google to get a specific answer to a specific query, people visit Facebook simply to visit Facebook and to interact with content shared by their friends. They are not always sure what they are looking for on the site, they just know they want to engage with what the site provides. Because of this, users respond more to their friend’s suggestions, thus making the Like Button a more useful tool.