Add +1 to help your ads stand out

People make choices about your website many times each day--whenever your pages appear in Google search results. What if the people who love your site could help their friends and other users find your great content right at the moment of decision?

That�s why we introduced the +1 button on Google search in March. +1 annotations show your customers which pages people they trust have found and enjoyed first, making it easier to find content they�re likely to care about.

Since we announced +1, we�ve gotten requests from Google search users and advertisers alike for +1 buttons in more places than just search results. That�s why today we�re making the +1 button available to sites across the web. Sometimes you want to recommend a web page after you�ve visited it. After all, how do you know you want to suggest that great hotel deal in Madrid if you haven�t checked it out yet?

We�ve partnered with a few sites where you'll see +1 buttons over the coming days:

You'll also start to see +1 buttons on other Google properties such as Android Market, Blogger, Product Search and YouTube.

Adding +1 buttons to your pages is a great way to help your ads stand out on Google. By giving your visitors more chances to +1 your pages, your search ads and organic results might appear with +1 annotations more often. This could lead to more--and better qualified--traffic to your site.

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To get started, visit the +1 button tool on Google Webmaster Central, where you�ll configure small snippets of JavaScript to add to the pages where you want +1 buttons to appear. You can pick from a few different button sizes and styles, so choose the +1 button that best matches your site�s layout.

When a user clicks +1, that +1 applies to the URL of the page they�re on. There are some easy ways to ensure your +1s apply as often as possible to the pages appearing in Google search results.

To stay current on updates to the +1 button large and small, please subscribe to the Google Publisher Button Announce Group. For advanced tips and tricks, check our Google Code site. For information about how the +1 button affects your search ads, check out the AdWords Help Center.

If your site primarily caters to users outside of the US and Canada, you can install the +1 button code now; the +1 button is already supported in 44 languages. However, keep in mind that +1 annotations currently only appear for English search results on Google.com. We�re working on releasing +1 to other domains in the future.

If you have customers who love your content (and we bet you do), encourage them to spread the word! Add the +1 button to help your ads stand out with a personal recommendation right at the moment of decision, on Google search.


Posted by Nathania Lozada, Inside AdWords crew