Experts: Google's +1 needs paradigm shift

GOOGLE    ONLINE ADVERTISING  

Global - Days after Google's +1 debuted, experts told Marketing its success hinges on paradigm shift as far as social interactions are concerned.

According to Greenlight's director of SEO Adam Bunn, Google needs a major partnership (something akin to Bing's with Facebook and the inclusion of Facebook likes in the search engine results pages), or a major acquisition, to make social proof work in its search results.

Google's new feature allows searchers, who already have a public Google Profile, to personalise search results and advertisements and recommend web pages to friends.

However, Bunn says unless Google can instigate some kind of paradigm shift as far as online social interactions are concerned - allowing it to reposition as first to market, Google has little option other than to buy Twitter.

Greenlight is a Europe-based independent search marketing specialist and technology firm.

In the case of online advertising, +1 has potential to increase click through rates (CTRs) and reduce advertising costs. From an online marketing perspective, Bunn points out that the speed at which search and social are converging means there is an immediate need for specialist teams and social marketing technologies to help bridge the divide, keeping up with the rapid pace of change.

"Google's latest social feature, similar to Facebook's ‘like' button will only work for Google if it can manage to import data from Facebook, Twitter and kin, into the individuals Google Profile thereby making Google, the gatekeeper of social interactions," Bunn added.

On the other hand, the likes of PurpleClick lauded the move saying the integration of social and search means bringing another new trend to the digital landscape.

"Search has been enabling businesses to convert relevant searchers into qualified business leads and with the addition of this feature, this means more opportunities for advertisers to create more ‘likeable' and relevant ad copies that will attract searchers to ‘+1' the search results," Leonard Tan, CEO, PurpleClick Media said. 

According to Tan, it creates powerful word-of-mouth referrals for advertisers on a digital platform, which is accessible 24/7, anywhere, anytime.  It also enhances the user experience of searchers as they would be able to identify the more reliable results based on 3rd party opinion (and not the advertisers themselves).

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