The Google +1 Button is a personal recommendation, or tip, from a person you trust. It allows you to share something you think is interesting that your friends, family or colleagues should check out. It is kind of like the Facebook Like Button but it shows in Google search results and is more personalized. For website traffic purposes, this is definitely something to consider adding to your website or blog. According to Google Webmaster Central, a recommendation from an expert is useful, but a recommendation from a friend who shares your tastes can be even better. “Because of this, +1’s from friends and contacts can be a useful signal to Google when determining the relevance of your page to a user’s query.” They also say, “personalized annotations next to your page in search results may increase your site’s visibility and make your site’s snippet more compelling, which may in turn increase the odds that users will click through to your page.”
The Google +1 Button is a free and comes in 4 sizes: Small (15px), Medium (20px), Standard (24px), and Tall (60px). See photo for actual sizes. Click here to get the Google +1 Button. The code for the Google +1 Button is very easy to install, just copy and paste it where you want it to show on your web page or pages. For WordPress, there is a plugin for the Google +1 Button that you can get by clicking here: WordPress Google +1 Button Plugin. I just use the First Footer Widget in WordPress with a Text insert and paste the +1 Button code. Then I can manage where this will display with the Dynamic Widget Plugin. I can choose exactly where I want it to show up, individual Pages, Posts, Categories, etc.
