Have you seen the Google “Like” button in search results? It’s officially called Google +1. It appears and works something like Facebook’s “Like” button. You can see your friend’s approval of sites and it might impact your decision to make a purchase or view a website.

From the official Google blog, Google’s statement about this button is: “Our goal at Google is to get you the most relevant results as quickly as possible. But relevance is about relationships as well as words on webpages.”

Adding social searches to Google is nothing new. Finding Twitter and Facebook comments is part of the normal organic search. But now Google is taking the social aspect one step further. If your friends, family or co-w0rkers like the website and click on the “like” button, there will be a greater chance you will view the same website or purchase the product.

In order to use this Google “Like” button, you will need to have a Google profile. Don’t think Google doesn’t know the science in marketing. 🙂  Right now, Google has your button ratings viewable on your Google profile. Not only is this button seen in organic searches, Google +1 is also available on Google’s paid ads.

Now what does this mean to the website owner? I’m not sure at this point but you want to be sure you have a Gmail account and a Google profile for yourself and your business. Google is planning to have a gadget to add this button to your own website but it isn’t available yet! Let’s see what direction Google goes with this button and begin by watching this video created by Google about this “Like” button called Google+1.

Google+1 is still in it’s early stages and will probably be tweaked regarding how much emphesis these ratings have on search results. Will this change search engine optimization? Perhaps, but social media has already started that. And if your business isn’t represented on sites such as Facebook, Linkedin, or Merchant Circle, now is the time to start. You don’t want to be left behind from this great method of internet marketing!