Google officially rolled out their +1 Button for websites with an announcement on their blog yesterday. Much like the Facebook Like button, this allows visitors to your site to +1 your content, which can then affect Google’s search engine rankings.
Google already has the +1 button active in their search results, giving users the ability to vote up results that they like from the search engine results page, but of course most users won’t know if they like a result until after they’ve gone there — at which point they’ve left the +1 button behind. So the +1 button for websites make a lot of sense, and should also help increase awareness for users.
How to Add the Google +1 Button to Your Site
For the generic, standard-sized (24 pixel) +1 button, there are two simple steps:
1. Add this code to the head section of your site/page:
<script type=”text/javascript” src=”//apis.google.com/js/plusone.js”></script>
2. Add this code to wherever you want the Google +1 button to appear:
<g:plusone></g:plusone> [standard +1 button]
<g:plusone count=”false”></g:plusone> [+1 button not showing the +1 count]
Google +1 Button Implementation
Google has instructions on how to add the +1 button to your website on their webmasters website. Much like the Facebook Like button the site will auto-generate the code for you. The nice thing about the implementation of the Google +1 button is that it will automatically +1 whatever page the button is on — unless you want it to +1 something different, in which case you can enter a different URL in their advanced options.
Unfortunately actually adding the +1 button here or there can be a bit tougher than the Facebook Like button — rather than just tossing the code into your post, for example, you have to have the javascript call in your template, and then you can add the +1 button code.