Has Google +1 Killed Traditional SEO?

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Roy Reyer

Has Google Killed Traditional SEO?

There is allot of debate going on this morning on Internet Marketing and SEO blogs asking if traditional SEO is dead now since yesterdays announcement of Google’s new personal recommendation button +1, which is Google’s answer to the Facebook “Like Button”.

I agree do agree that embracing Social Media and that the Social Vote is VERY IMPORTANT to be successful online, however I disagree with several doom and gloom naysayers that traditional SEO is dead, here is why.

If you have been following us for any length of time you know that we have always preached the importance of creating good quality content based upon your keyword research that engages your audience and then doing a mild rewrite for the search engines.

Therefore to survive going forward after today you must:

Do quality keyword research for the terms you are interested in targeting
Write engaging content that your audience will like to encourage them to press the Google +1 button
Optimize your content, your website and obtain backlinks using traditional methods so you articles will appear in the SERPS.

What Is the Google +1 Button?

If you’re logged into your Google account while you are searching, you may start seeing search results with recommendations from people that you know and that they shared on Twitter, Flickr and Facebook.

So basically the +1 button is your way of telling your followers (and Google) that this is a pretty cool website, you should check it out.

Getting Started With the Google +1 Button

To get started you should create your own Google Profile account or if you already have one upgrade it

Then to start using the experimental Google +1 Button you must activate your account here.

Then review your social connection in your Google Profile to know who you are connected with in your Google Social Circle by going to your dashboard.

How to Put the +1 Button on Your Website(s)

If you want the Google’s +1 button on your website (you should) go here and sign up: https://services.google.com/fb/forms/plusonesignup/

Will you be implementing the new +1 button on your websites? If so let us know…

Certified Master SEO Instructor by the Search Engine Academy and CEO and founder of SEO Training SW.

Roy Reyer

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31st March 2011 4 Comments

4 Responses to Has Google +1 Killed Traditional SEO?

Roger Matthews says:

March 31, 2011 at 11:47 am

Thanks for letting us know about this Roy. Sounds like a great new thing and we love being on the cutting edge with new ideas.

So now we go and create new marketing stuff so all our clients want to get aboard.
Peggy says:

March 31, 2011 at 11:53 am

Thanks, Roy. Just signed up.
Rob Thayer says:

March 31, 2011 at 1:07 pm

I don’t think that Google is going to be taking +1 status into consideration when ranking sites — it will be much too easy to abuse the system and artificially pump up a site’s numbers. Traditional SEO is unlikely to change much because of +1. Just keep on creating quality content and you’ll be fine.
Kyle says:

March 31, 2011 at 3:10 pm

Sounds like people will spam the hell out of this method and “plus one” their own pages by creating multiple user accounts to boost their SE positions.

Exactly like what happens in Youtube.com and other social media when people put a text ad in the comment field and then ‘like it’ many times with fake accounts to put the comment to the top of a high traffic video or page.

If the system is the same that Google is going to use it might end up back firing on them and create a mass of spam more than ever, or people will ignore their friends suggestions once they find out the sites they suggest are not the best ones. But I guess if enough people ‘like it’ the page has to be good right?