The dance will be changing again soon it would seem. Voting and ranking by end users does seem to be the way forward. Review sites such as Trip Advisor have enjoyed spectacular success mainly down to the reviews and ratings left by actual holiday makers. Even Ebay are constantly making their sellers jump through hoops by controversially penalising their sellers very harshly when a buyer leaves poor detailed seller ratings. It seemed inevitable then that as Google owes its success to giving the end user what they want, they too would soon follow along the rank and rate path.
The new google plus one button will start to become a regular sight on websites across the world very soon, Although in beta at the time of writing this I would strongly advise getting to grips with it now so that when it becomes official and becomes a part of the Google dance, you’ll hit the ground running. Check out my +1 button in the right hand side bar. I think initially it will just be a gimmick, eventually I think everything from content to products for sale will be rated this way. Google don’t play at things often, they get it right and the world stands to attention. Be prepared for this to affect your result placing in the future!
To add the Google +1 button to your website visit the webmasters page at Google
Watch this video produced by google for webmasters.
