One of the many inspired marketing strategies of Google is the idea of PageRank. Not just in the brilliance of the concept itself, but in the way the idea has experts and self-proclaimed-experts alike obsessing over one relatively minor aspect of SEO.
People still lose sleep over their PageRank to this day, and many still don’t understand how it actually works. Brilliant.
Google +1 (not to be confused with Google +) is simply a means of people endorsing a web page, and signifies a refocus for Google, where they acknowledge the importance of the user: the start of social SEO.
From Google:
“The +1 button is shorthand for “this is pretty cool” or “you should check this out”.
Click +1 to publicly give something your stamp of approval. Your +1’s can help friends, contacts, and others on the web find the best stuff when they search.“
From an SEO perspective, four words jump out:
“…others on the web…”
I personally don’t believe that +1 will make much of a difference in the short term. The feature is still experimental, and it’s still not possible for Google Apps users to even use it.
It’s also worth noting that Google have had a poor track record of jumping on the social wagon, notably with Buzz and Orkut. But if the feature catches on, it could prove to be an important aspect of your SEO strategy.
