Google +1 - Final Research, Findings and Analysis.

[zub07]

Before asking any question, please read through properly. Thanks!
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*Waves at the Black Hatters*

This is the findings about my second and, probably, my last research based on Google +1. The reason its probably the last is because both of those research have cost me a lot but I did it out of curiosity and also with the thought of sharing it to the BlackHat community which I love so much! If you want to get a better understanding of my work, you can browse previous thread I have created. Let me summarize it:

(1) Effectiveness of "Google +1" - My research and findings : tinyurl (dot) com/bigGplusone
My first research on Google +1. It contain a wealth of information about building Google +1 be it by yourself or making other people do it for you. Its a good read if you are planning to start Google +1 your stuff by yourself. It also take a look at the tip of the iceberg. So, I highly recommend you take a look at it.

(2) FREE Google +1! [ Part of a study I'm conducting ] : tinyurl (dot) com/bigGplusone2
This is the pre-reasearch thread for THIS research. It gives you an overview of where the data (that I am going to present you) comes from. Again, if you have not read it, I highly recommend you to do so, it will help you get a better understanding of the subject.

(3) Google +1 DEATH THREAT! : tinyurl (dot) com/bigGplusone3
"Even with all the death threats being thrown my way I have decided to release this anyway... While I still can. The secrets that ended my life can be yours for only... $0! Take the offer before its too late..."
(thanks for this awesome line, Tenshisendo! haha)

Now the details is out of the way, lets start!

What is it about?
This is a research which goes more in depth in order to understand what Google +1 is all about. The accuracy of the findings will always be debatable but these data can be use to get a better understanding of the subject nonetheless. In a nutshell, work on 3 different methods of building Google +1 and I have gauge their effectiveness over the span of 1 week to see whether there is any noticeable change. Due to the fact that I DID see a change, I feel that its OK to start post the findings and maybe update it as I find more about the topic.

My samples?
I originally planned to take only 7 websites to do this research but after some brain storming I end up taking 10 website which I use to give Google +1 while gauging their performance through tools such as Market Samurai. Let me give you some characteristics of the website:
- The websites was from a list of 200 applications which I received for this research.
- The themes of the website was all different.
- Most of them was white hat.
- None of them was from the list I received here, reason is people were already in some campaign (Mostly blackhat) to improve their page ranking here.
- The websites range from niche websites to bigger ones.

Methodology.

Basically, I have distribute some amount of Google +1 to the 10 websites over the span of 7 days. Below is a table to show how much Google +1 they got each day and how much Google +1 was distributed at the end of one week:

To further understand the 2 'sets' in the table above, keep reading.
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In order to make things simpler, I will divide my 'methods' in 3. They will be Red, Yellow and Green method. An overview of each method is as follows:

RED Method - This method basically derives from the first research I did. All the Google +1 was done by me, on different phone verified accounts while I change proxy for each Google +1.

YELLOW Method - Each Google +1 was unique and was provided by one different person for each Google +1. So, 30 Google +1 means that 30 different REAL person have clicked on the Google +1 button. The peoples which was giving Google +1 in this method was chosen randomly.

GREEN Method - This one is same like yellow method BUT with an added feature. The peoples doing the Google +1 was targeted such a way that their interest was matched with one of these ten website and they would offer their Google +1 on the said website only. It took lot of planning to be able to achieve this.

Findings and Analysis

To make things more simple, I made a (pretty!) image to present the findings:

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What is this pic all about? It simply shows the 3 different method and how Google +1 actually affects keywords. This is where I feel I've put my hand on a diamond in the mud. To make it short, Google +1 AFFECTS YOUR KEYWORDS! Yes, it DOES.

The research I did, I promised everyone to keep their keywords and website confidential, I will keep my word on that. Instead, I will use an example of how Google +1 have affect the keywords of website which builds Google +1 under each of these 3 methods.

Red Method
All the Google +1 was built by a single individual. The main keywords and ranking of the website was recorded and it shows little to no movement at all during the length of the project even though the Google +1 given to it was quite large at times. All the Google +1 was handed over by a single person (me) using different accounts under different proxy. If the main keyword of the website is "Game" then whatever amount of Google +1 I offered, there was no new keywords detected by search engine.

Yellow Method
Each Google +1 was given by single REAL different person. 30 Google +1 means 30 different persons have click on the button. The peoples who did that was randomly chosen out of a big list of people who was ready to give Google +1. What I noticed is that there was SERP movement where the position was improving but what is great is that Search Engine started to pick up new keywords for the website.

Green Method
Same as yellow method but this time the Google +1 made was targeted. What does it mean? It means that if a website is about gaming then people who are gamers would be the one who offered the Google +1. The result was impressive! First, there was SERP movement similar to the yellow method but there was much more keywords picking up by search engine! When I said "picking up", I mean that the website could be find using other keywords beside the main one. If the main keyword is 'game' then it would start to link with 'action game', 'RPG game', game reviews', etc...

The color code I choose for each method should be obvious now. Red is for the fact that it seems its pointless to build Google +1 by yourself even though you are behind proxy. Yellow is 'ok' because it actually effects your website positively. Green is 'go for it' if you can build Google +1 using this method.

Bogus or not bogus?
If I have to give my honest opinion on what I have, I can say the following: Google is not dumb, for each person that surf the web and use their Search Engine, they will keep tracks of all those data gathered then they will be using it. If you Google +1, they will see how the website you are giving Google +1 relates to the content you just gave Google +1 and afterward it will give some 'weighs' to the Google +1.

If you are a gamer that surf the web to look for gaming stuff then you Google +1 a site, Google will probably pick up keywords related to your search and the content of the website then link it together.

At this point, I can say that its true... at some point since I experienced it during the research and all 5 websites in one set shows more or less the same characteristics but one set shows slightly different characteristics than the other.

Again, this point is debatable. I welcome anyone who have do such research or have been extensively involve with Google +1 to share their thoughts in this thread.

My Conclusion
This research confirmed my thoughts about Google +1. I was thinking that the Google +1 is much more about quality than quantity, now I am fixed on this matter. I now personally think that giving Google +1 to my site by myself using proxies is just pointless and wasted efforts. If you are wondering how to get those Google +1 then I'll give you just one hint: Make quality content! At the end of the day, offer something that is worth it and that the visitor will like. If they like it then you'll get your Google +1. Lose focus on just finding method to make your site rank better and focus a bit more on giving great quality content. We are Blackhatters, not fraudsters.

With these words, I end this analysis. I was glad to make this research and felt happy to share this with all of you. I have certainly learn a lot of thing just by reading in this forum and I just want to give back after taking so much.

Enjoy my fellow Blackhatters!

zub07

PS: 48 Google +1 in this thread.

 

[soothsayerpg]

Nice Job Mate.I'll subscribe to this

 

[plex_brahial]

Good to see somebody took such an interest into this. Thanks for the good read!

 

[FireTheWild]

Awesome !

 

[mudbutt]

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

 

[jrbobdobbs]

Before anyone wades in and starts slating the OP's methods or results and saying how "it's inconclusive, the results could be from lots of other factors, etc. etc." - let's see YOU take the time, trouble and money to do some research like this. Well done OP, big rep!

This is by far and away the best research I have seen so far into G+1. Yeah, it can never be conclusive, but it backs up what we would expect to see, doesn't it? Are Google going to rank sites with the help of votes by real human beings who are proven to have an interest in the given subject area? Of COURSE they are, if they can!

If this is all true, things are going to start getting tricky It will be pretty hard to game getting relevant Plus Ones, unless, as the OP says, you have good content in the first place (there MUST be other ways ). I think we need to do some serious brainstorming on how to start using this to our advantage. I think for a start it will be important to build networks of real "friends" on G+ who are interested in the niche and will +1 your new posts and share them on. But they won't do that if the content is crap... And you have to get them first...

 

[DavidVictor]

Very nice job, nice research, very usefull, thanks!

 

[lancis]

Each +1 is a backlink on user's profile. The rest is something we are all familiar with:

- Dummy profile is not well connected, thus link from such a profile page is worthless
- Established profile has a lot of weight, but its not thematically consistent
- Established profile with clear interest in something has a lot of thematic content + weight

I doubt Google went too far from the scheme above - replace social connection with backlinks and we are back to good ole SEO.

I believe that work done by the OP pretty much confirms that simple theory.

 

[LukesDad]

Good job. Thanks for the research.

 

[ThatBotProgrammer]

A lot of good stuff here. +rep

 

[cybersage]

This is pretty much the same way I have been looking at it. People with a legitimate profile that +1 will have more impact than +1's coming from a profile that has 0 connections.

I honestly think that the social features will be hugely important down the road, because I can see the logic behind using social input as a ranking factor (websites that people "like" or "+" will be considered more relevant than website that has not been "liked" or "+'d").

To me if you look at what Bing + FB are doing (impacting searches based on "like"), it is the same thing big G is doing with +1 and G+. I would wonder how attenuated the effect is with +1 (does my +1 impact my connection's connections?).

OP do you have WMT setup on these websites? Because there is an option in there to see +1 impact on SERPs (I believe), I would wonder what the difference looks like for +1 impact for each site according to WMT?

Once again thanks for your study

Each +1 is a backlink on user's profile. The rest is something we are all familiar with:

- Dummy profile is not well connected, thus link from such a profile page is worthless
- Established profile has a lot of weight, but its not thematically consistent
- Established profile with clear interest in something has a lot of thematic content + weight

I doubt Google went too far from the scheme above - replace social connection with backlinks and we are back to good ole SEO.

I believe that work done by the OP pretty much confirms that simple theory.

 

[fluffer_nutter]

I have one quick question about a google +1 button. If you're targetting couple of pages on your site, should the button be placed on just your homepage or all the other pages as well? Also, is the button "connected" in terms of "likes", aka 1 per domain, or separate aka 1 per URL.

 

[Xellon]

Epic win. Thanks

 

[lancis]

I have one quick question about a google +1 button. If you're targetting couple of pages on your site, should the button be placed on just your homepage or all the other pages as well? Also, is the button "connected" in terms of "likes", aka 1 per domain, or separate aka 1 per URL.

I have done a SEO experiment once, and managed to rank site's page higher than the site itself for main keyword. I.e. if the site was "domain.com", when searching for "domain" the first result presented was "domain.com/page".

This basically means that for Google the difference between domain and page doesnt exist. Whoever has the most backlinks wins.

However, usually your pages have link to the main page, and doing SEO for an internal page automatically provides SEO for the main page.

G+1 might work just the same.

 

[cybersage]

I'm curious what you are saying here? The reason I ask is because on one of my sites many of the inner pages rank higher than the homepage (but I get the "see more result from yoursite.com" showing below the result). For reference, the inner pages are highly optimized (ie inner page is titled like yourdomain.com/KW.html, all tags optimized, and quality unique content).

When doing a backlink check however I have not done nearly as extensive inner page linking as I have linked to the homepage. Backlinks should dictate that the homepage wins, but perhaps the on-site seo for the inner page trumps it? The reason this may be is that the homepage is targeting generally whereas the inner page target the KW specifically.

This basically means that for Google the difference between domain and page doesnt exist. Whoever has the most backlinks wins.

Also with regard to the per url or per domain, for whatever its worth WMT under the +1 metrics shows how many +1's you have for each url. I know I have a +1 button on every page of my site, but that data provided by WMT is small because I don't have very many +1's (as I am trying to get natural +1's)

 

[scopezero]

simply awesome, people could have sold that on WF , lol
thanks for sharing such valueable data with us
+Thanks and +Reps

 

[lancis]

I'm curious what you are saying here? The reason I ask is because on one of my sites many of the inner pages rank higher than the homepage (but I get the "see more result from yoursite.com" showing below the result). For reference, the inner pages are highly optimized (ie inner page is titled like yourdomain.com/KW.html, all tags optimized, and quality unique content).

When doing a backlink check however I have not done nearly as extensive inner page linking as I have linked to the homepage. Backlinks should dictate that the homepage wins, but perhaps the on-site seo for the inner page trumps it? The reason this may be is that the homepage is targeting generally whereas the inner page target the KW specifically.

As far as I understand Google has some weighting in place between relevancy and backlinks. If your domain is named "abc", normally there will be a lot of inner pages with anchor text "abc" that point to the domain. Thus the relevancy of "abc" for that domain becomes high. If you change the anchor text to "cba" then slowly the domain will go down the serps for "abc", and inner pages might take its place.

This is what happened in my case, I was doing backlinks with anchor text "cba" pointing to the domain and "abc" to the inner page.

 

[garyo]

Exellent Thread Thanks To You All.

A+++++

 

[jon_xx_x]

Damnit that font color is annoying as hell.

Good read though.

 

[.:mAestro:.]

Great research! Thank you very much for writing this here.