Like ads? Me neither. But do you +1 them?

As with death and taxes, Google adding its +1 button to AdWords had a certain inevitability. The rule of thumb is, ‘if Facebook are making money out of it, expect a Google product or feature shortly’. On Facebook you can ‘like’ ads, and now on Google you can ‘+1’ them.

People can, with a single click, recommend an ad to their friends and contacts. In their announcement, Google claim:

“Incorporating personal recommendations into display ads has the potential to change the way people view advertising.”

A bold claim. Not only that… Google assures AdWords customers this feature will make ads much more powerful. And they could well be right.

Social-enabled ad campaigns

Facebook has made its millions by creating an advertisers dream platform. With vast amounts of privacy-bending data, with the tools and channels to capitalise on it… FaceBook advertisers can target you like no-one else. Better still, they can get you to spread their adverts for them.

Adding the Google +1 to ads is an attempt to tap into all that content sharing and ‘word of click’ referrals that happen in the social media world. Google wants to bring social media to the SERPs so when you’re logged in and searching you’ll be able to share content/ recommendations and see who in your ‘circle’ of contacts have endorsed what. And now, not just the SERPs… but anywhere on the Google Display Network.

How google +1 in ads works

Chances are, if you’ve searched whilst logged into Google, you’ve already seen the Google +1 button appearing next to ads. You might also have seen them under display ads on a website that’s part of the Google Display Network.

Now folks logged into Google will be able to +1 a page in organic results/ ads on the SERPs and display ads on websites. So, in Google’s own words, “A single +1 applies to the same content across the web, no matter where it appears”.

What this means. Imagine I search for ‘cheap Greek Holidays’ (never too soon for Euro crisis jokes). I see an absolute bargain. I click the +1 button next to it because I think it’s a great deal.

If you’re in my ‘circle’ of contacts (and logged in to Google) and you happen to trigger the ad in one of your searches… you’ll see that I +1’d it.

The thinking goes, my endorsement will increase the likelihood of you clicking through to check it out. Even if you don’t think the endorsement factor will be huge with your ads, they will stand-out far more than ‘non-plussed’ ads.

Oh, and you’d also find what I’ve +1’d if you looked in my profile and I’d chosen to make it public.

Good stuff. But not likely to “change the way people view advertising”.

The really powerful bit…

You’ll also see that I +1’d and ad if you’re on a website in the Google Display Network that displays the ad. Here’s the powerful bit:

“the Google Display Network gives ads that have been recommended an extra boost by including them in the auction for any page a friend visits.”

And that’s a big deal. Think about it.

As an advertiser, if you get your ad to one person who +1’s it, your ad will ‘automatically target’ their circle of contacts whenever they’re on one of the millions of websites that display Google ads.

Genius.

Make it appealing enough so they +1 it, your ad then gets shared to their circle of contacts who might share it with their circle, who might share it with… you get the picture.