Google Give +1 to the World Wide Web

If you have your own website, then you will be interested in any tips and tricks for driving traffic to it, and improving its design or content to improve your search results.

Well, Google has today - rather quietly - rolled out their +1 functionality across the web as a whole, giving sites another tool in their arsenal to improve how the search engine sees and ranks them.

The +1 tool has been available on search results on Google.com since March, and the idea is that if a searcher (logged into their Google account) sees a result they like or would recommend to others, they click on the small +1 button next to the result or search ad. Then any of their friends who are also logged in will see that a friend has +1’d it.

Now those involved in web design can add a small piece of JavaScript to their own sites to let users +1 the site from the site itself and not just the search results. Web site owners can decide where to put the button themselves, and can have multiple buttons on one page if they like - for example, one against each blog post.

Buttons can also be coded to allow users to +1 different pages from one place, e.g. a user could +1 your blog from your homepage if you so wish.

A number of big content sites such as Mashable and TechCrunch will be using the button, as will Android Market, Google Product Search, Blogger, and YouTube.While it is restricted to logged-in Google users, anything that stands to improve our arsenal of SEO techniques, tips, and tricks looks to be a good thing.