Google +1 Buttons for Web Publishers (and SEOs)

Google has released a variety of Google +1 buttons, similar to those currently in use by Facebook and Twitter. The +1 buttons provide a way for visitors to endorse and share web pages, blog posts and articles. Use of +1 buttons currently does not effect search engine rankings.

Get the Google +1 Button Code!

In order to increase your earnings with Google’s advertising network, AdSense, you first need to understand how the Google AdSense Ad Auction works.

Watch the video below to learn more about the AdSense Ad Auction from Hal Varian, Google’s Chief Economist.

This video makes it easier to understand just how volatile something like landing page quality is. I run a website that receives approximately 15-25K unique visitors during the warmer months and 7-12K/month the rest of the year. Just recently, I focused on improving the quality of all landing pages that contain AdSense ads and nearly doubled my earnings.

Also note the similarities to the Google AdWords PPC Ad Auction:

1. Quality Score
   A. Ad’s past performance
   B. Ad relevancy between ad keywords and landing page keywords
   C. Landing page quality
2. Ad Rank
   Ad Rank = MAX CPC X Quality Score

I like how (just like in the AdWords Ad Auction) a lower bidding ad can show above a higher bidding ad by utilizing quality landing pages and focusing on keyphrase relevancy. This means you don’t have to necessarily outbid your competitors to get the top spot; just run a quality campaign (don’t be evil).

Optimize AdSense

Your best bet for improving your AdSense earnings is to optimize your landing pages that contain AdSense ads.

Aside from focusing on key SEO metrics to improve the quality of your page, you may need to investigate usability testing (start with a Google Analytics heat map), ad placement testing (to determine optimal ad placement) and more. Lower those bounce rates and boost time on site!

Video Highlights:

How the Ad Auction Works

AdWords Quality Score

1. CTR
2. Relevance
3. Landing Page Quality

SEO and AdWords

AdWords Ad Rank

• Ad Rank is summarized by the below formula, and is what actually determines the actual position of your ad.
  Max Bid of advertiser X Quality Score of the ad = Ad Rank

Determining Cost Per Click

• CPC is the minimum amount necessary to retain the position of your ad, and is summarized by the formula below.
  CPC of ad 1 = [(Ad Rank of next lowest ad) / (the Quality Score of ad 1)]

The moral of the story; relevant and related AdWords campaigns that utilize relevant and related landing pages can decrease your CPC while increasing clicks. Google basically reinforces quality by rewarding advertisers with lower costs and increased performance.

The good news is; the same traditional SEO methodology applies to socially produced content. If optimized properly, content produced on social networks like Facebook and Twitter will show in the same search results as your website or blog.

Watch the SEOmoz video below for additional information:

Bing and Microsoft have been in the news lately regarding deals that in effect add social search results to mainstream search. Bing has a beta setup, and Google just launched Social Search – an experimental Google Labs product.

It should be noted that Yahoo! has already integrated social with their search results. Once a search is performed, users have the option to view search results from a variety of social networks and authority websites (see below image).

Usability

• Google’s experimental social integration has to be activated in Google Labs before it can be used as a search option.
• Bing’s social integration is only one click away from the homepage and does not require activation; users will have easier access to this feature than in Google.
• Yahoo!’s integration is the most usable; options to view results from social networks are displayed immediately after a search is performed.

Functionality

Google Social Search

From the mouth of the Goog:

The way we do it is by building a social circle of your friends and contacts using the connections linked from your public Google profile, such as the people you’re following on Twitter or FriendFeed. The results are specific to you, so you need to be signed in to your Google Account to use Social Search. If you use Gmail, we’ll also include your chat buddies and contacts in your friends, family, and coworkers groups. And if you use Google Reader, we’ll include some websites from your subscriptions as part of your social search results. More…

Bing

Bing’s social integration is exclusive to Twitter (and eventually Facebook), while Google and Yahoo! both show results from multiple social networks that include Twitter.

Yahoo!

After a search is performed in Yahoo!, users have the option to view results from other social networks and authority websites from a list generated based on the keyphrase searched.

Endgame

Bing is focusing on Twitter while Yahoo! and Google are focusing on a number of social networks that include Twitter. Yahoo! doesn’t give you the option to select which social network to show results from – they decide for you based on the search phrase, while Google Social Search focuses on networks that the user is already engaged in.

However you slice it, social content is in the process of being integrated into mainstream search. Further integrating Social into SEO.