It was announced today that Google will begin adding +1 buttons to their Web and mobile display ads in early October, adding user photos and recommendations to the ads themselves. The buttons were recently added in the same way to Google search results.
On its “Inside AdWords” blog today, Google said that +1 buttons have been installed on over a million Websites across the Web with more than 4 billion daily impressions. By adding the buttons to display ads across both the Web and mobile, advertisers have the ability to run social-enabled ad campaigns that work across millions of sites on over 40 countries around the world. The new feature is being added to display ads by default, though users can opt-out manually via their AdWords account.
The idea is that a display ad becomes much more powerful when people can see which of their friends and contacts have chosen to endorse it. On the Web, the +1 button and recommendations will appear at the bottom of display ads, then fade out until the viewer hovers over the ad. On mobile, the +1 button will replace the existing “g” logo and recommendations will appear for several seconds before fading out.
The buttons placed on display ads will also work together with buttons on search results, search ads, and Websites — meaning a single +1 applies to the same content across the Web, no matter where it appears. While the theory is solid, I’m not sure people will be “+1ing” ads as much as Google hopes. Will you?
