I finally received a long-awaited email from Google letting me know they’re releasing the code for Google +1 which will try to rival Facebook’s Like Button. Google is throwing their towel into the social ring and they’re heading in a great direction considering their base service. Buzz and other efforts were a bit off the mark, mostly because they didn’t try to roll out based on their product model but rather the model of others. For webmasters and SEO’s this email may be a bit of a game changer with how people optimize sites. A relief to developers everywhere, however, this code was a breeze to implement.[caption id=”attachment_145” align=”alignnone” width=”641” caption=”Google’s early release email of +1”]

[/caption]To implement the code, the process only entailed copy and pasting a code Google gives you from this email (or the Google +1 code generator) into the head (between and ) of the site. Next just copy and paste the short call code that the generator gives you. anywhere that you wish the button to appear. This is literally a copy/paste 2 minute effort. (Something other SM platforms would be wise to implement.)If you’re using a Wordpress site, Mashable did a more in-depth article on plugging this code into your theme files, but for most this should be self-explanatory enough. You can put this call code literally anywhere on your site. I just put mine in my sidebar for accessibility and the button automatically pulls the URL for the specific page you are on when you click “+1.” More advanced webmasters may specify callback functions, but for the most part the simple set up works just fine. I also tried it with the text widget in Wordpress, throwing it in the middle of a post, and putting it in a theme’s customized CSS section. All of these methods worked sublimely without a hitch.In comparison to Facebook’s Like Button, anyone can add the code to their page without being defined and approved as a “developer.” I also encountered far less problems than when I implemented the Facebook Send Button. The other main difference, given Larry Page’s “social media bonus plan” and statements by Google, is that this button will play a LARGE contributing factor into search engine results pages. I haven’t seen anything change search yet, but the +1 will begin juice rankings that are +1ed by your friends. This will be a game changer entirely and only supports the argument that SEO, SM and the rest of marketing should never be exclusive of each other.Once you have your button and go to click on it for the first time (as you surely will), you should be greeted by this:

If you aren’t signed in, then sign in with your Gmail account and follow the instructions. It’s a breeze to implement and a breeze for the end-user. Over the coming days, hopefully we start to see how it plays out in SERPs. Oh ya— Don’t forget tothis article.