You’ve heard of the term “my +1” right? Well, Google recently introduced a new function with the same idea. According to Google, +1 is shorthand for “this is pretty cool” or “you should check this out.” It’s a new way to publicly give your seal of approval to things on the web (similar to the “Like” button on Facebook). The big difference with +1 is that you and your +1s can help your friends, contacts, and others locate stuff that’s great when you search the web. Think of it as your own personal endorsement of content, a service or a place.

How do I +1?

Our friends at Google tell us the following: In order to +1 things, you’ll first need a public Google profile. This helps people see who recommended that romantic B&B or that easy-to-use ESP (wink, wink). When you create a profile, it’s visible to anyone, and connections with your email address can easily find it. I played a bit with +1 then did two Google searches while I was logged into my Google profile. First, I searched email marketing because of course, that search term is near and dear to my heart.

I could see that I had given it a +1 and so had one other person I know. Sweet!

Next, I searched Pet Camp, a local VR customer where we take our pup, Dwight, when we travel. Here’s what I saw:

There was a nice little +1 symbol right next to their search ranking done by yours truly. Pretty cool eh? But now you may be wondering how you can place a +1 button on your website. blog, etc. The Google peeps made that easy too. Check out their helpful page.

For more answers about +1 check out the +1 webmaster site.

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