It is no secret that Google+ is Google’s relatively new social media platform or that Google is the biggest search engine in the world.

Will Google be able to knock Facebook off its perch with Google+?  The immediate answer to that is usually “why do we need another social media channel?”  Well I must admit I was pretty much of the same mind until I thought a bit more about the implications of the Google +1 button.

The Google+1 buttons are appearing everywhere.  You can +1 any website on the net, or perhaps even more pertinent you can +1 any website directly from the search results. Once you have given your +1 vote to a website then this can appear in your Google+ profile, much the same as a ‘Liked’ page appears in your Facebook profile.

The fact that Google has announced that +1s will figure in their search engine algorithm makes this a very powerful USP.  Once people realise that having the +1 button integrated within their site could mean more traffic from Google search, the buttons and the social media platform are going to become very popular indeed.

So, if website owners are going to reap the benefits of joining Google+ will they stay with Facebook long term?  Probably yes because all Internet activity counts in SEO, including Facebook.  However, whilst it is easy to copy and paste articles across platforms, it is important to handle duplicate content across the web with care …

Google Panda is the latest implementation by Google to improve the quality of search results. The main focus of the search engine software is to sieve out all of the trash content in the virtual world. Panda is striving to find quality links, working out which sites are genuinely popular and which sites have contrived their incoming links from disreputable directories or mirror content. Incorporating +1 into the search results is the first step towards humanising the SEO process.

Google Webmaster guidelines are even more prevalent now as the new Panda continues on its mission to clean up the net.  Google is doing more than ever to weed out those who misbehave!  A snapshot of what Google says is below, the full guidelines can be viewed here »

• Content should be original and of genuine interest to your visitors, not written for search engines.  Make people want to like you, +1 you or link to you.
• Content should not be duplicated across the web – in some cases it is deliberately duplicated across domains in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings or win more traffic. Deceptive practices like this can result in a poor user experience.
• There should be an easily accessible, sound navigation structure for all pages – (a Google spider needs to be able to find your site content easily in the same way as your visitors)
• Content should not be keyword packed

Google never reveal the actual algorithm used to render the search results. Will Google +1 become an even bigger factor in deciding a website’s popularity in the future?  This could certainly give them the means to become a major social media player.  Time will tell …