Official: Google "Share" Experiment Sends Pages From Search To Google+

Official: Google “Share” Experiment Sends Pages From Search To Google+

Jul 18, 2012 at 7:58am ET by Greg Finn

A Tweet this morning from @BerianReed, head of search marketing of AutoTrader UK, uncovered some potentially deeper integration between Google Search and Google+. Reed spotted a new option in the results that showed up next to the URL, a “Share” link. Upon hitting the button, users are prompted to share directly to Google+ from the results pages. The result is included as a link and users are given the ability to add a comment:

Surprisingly, users can share pages that they haven’t yet clicked through. Currently users can only +1 a listing from the results page, something that is a much weaker sharing signal.

This image was taken from Google UK and we were unable to replicate the results ourselves. Photo courtesy of @BerianReed.

Postscript by Barry Schwartz: Google’s Product Manager Sean Liu announced on Google+ later this afternoon that this is now official. He wrote:

Starting today, we’re rolling out a new experiment to show a Share link in Google search in place of the +1 button, making it easier for you to share a great website with your friends. Now when you click the Share link next to a result, you can add a comment about why you found it useful. You can then choose if you want to share it publicly or just to your Circles and it will post to your Google+ stream, making it easier for you to share directly from the search results page. This will appear for those searching in English.

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Google | Google: +1 | Google: Google+ | Top News

About The Author: Greg Finn is the Chief Marketing Officer for Cypress North, a company that specializes in social media and search marketing services and web-based application development. He has been in the Internet marketing industry for 6+ years and specializes in Social Media Marketing. You can also find Greg on Twitter (@gregfinn) or LinkedIn. See more articles by Greg Finn

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http://www.tvsinternetmarketing.com/ Travis Van Slooten

Thanks for the head’s up on this feature. I just tested this here from Minneapolis searching for a total random keyword, “exterior painting tips,” and I was able to replicate this feature. Cool stuff.

Travis Van Slooten
David Johnston

I made an Android app last year that did the sane thing but from Bing SERPS. It called TwitterBing. ;)
http://twitter.com/Nathan_Safran Nathan Safran

Don’t really see people using this much (you’re not really going to have much reason to share a page on a social network before you click through to it) but it’s another place for Google to tie their social network in…
http://www.theclixgroup.com/ Bryan SEO

I don’t really see the benefits of this. Why would people want to share something that they haven’t even read?
http://www.tylerherrick.com Tyler Herrick

Perhaps if you read it on some other device, or when you weren’t logged in. I could see myself utilizing this if I found a really good article and they didn’t have integrated sharing within the site.
http://twitter.com/LeslieVazquez20 Leslie Vazquez

a social network before you click through to it) but it’s another place for Google to tie their social network in. http://AlluringWay.blogspot.com
robthespy

Why don’t they just redirect the home page and all searches to G+?

;)
http://www.theclixgroup.com/ Bryan SEO

Perhaps
Mark Weaver

I implemented this years ago, but only the Wayback Machine has it now. Ahhh server costs
Mark Weaver

Sometimes the results list answers your Search without clicking through. Sharing that little globule of info can be useful in some contexts, as long as the share highlights the original Search Query and the summary text in context. Sometimes it might be done for a laugh
http://twitter.com/azephor azephor

If you want to share from any page here’s the bookmarklet: http://goo.gl/6VXhj