The social media battle rages on as Google’s answer to Facebook’s social networking dominance, Google +1, makes headway. This according to a new study by BrightEdge, a company which helps online companies optimize their sites to help boost organic search results.
In a report for the Internet Retailer by Paul Demery, Google +1 was found on 4.4% of 10,000 sites which is a slight improvement from last June’s 3.6%. Google +1’s key feature is that it influences search results a user sees in Google based on common interests with friends. Despite Google +1’s slow and steady growth, the article noted that Facebook’s more popular “Like” button is still more prominent on the 10,000 sites included in the survey. In addition to the “Like” button, the survey also revealed that 20% of the surveyed sites include Facebook’s social plug-in tools and 47% link their homepages to Facebook in some way. Another popular social media marketing site, Twitter, also came out as a prominent with 42% of the sites providing a link to it.
The article further notes that BrightEdge sees a lot of room for growth among the surveyed sites in terms of linking to social networks. The company’s chief executive pointed out that more “land grab” effort can be expected later this year as plug-ins become more and more valuable in online real estate.
