First, some background information:
On March 30th, 2011, Google announced the introduction of +1 in The Official Google Blog. There is also a page in Google webmaster tools area that talks about Google's +1 from a webmaster perspective. Among other tidbits, Google says +1's are being considered a signal used to determine the relevance of a page in Google search results. And in the last week Google Webmaster Tools started providing information about +1's done on pages of websites: how many there have been for each page of a site, and the extent to which they have influenced clicks to the page. As Matt Cutts said when asked about +1: "It's definitely a signal we're paying a lot of attention to, It has tons of potential. It looks very promising." And it probably does not hurt that Google would dearly like it's social networking features to play a lead role versus Facebook's. All very interesting information for those who are interested in helping themselves do better from an SEO perspective.
Now, onto the GPWA Google +1 feature announcements:
First, we have added the Google +1 button to every member portal site listed in the GPWA member directory. If you go to your member profile page you will see the +1 button to the right of each portal with which you have said you are affiliated. If you want to let Google know you think a site of yours is awesome, just click the +1 button associated with the site on your member page. If we're missing one of your sites, let us know and we'll add it to your profile page. The +1 button for a member site specifically gives a boost to the url of the website, not the member profile page that lists the member's websites (we'll probably add that ability later as well).
And if there are other sites you are not affiliated with that are associated with other members that you think are awesome, be sure to look the sites up in the member portal directory. You can +1 any site listed in the member portal directory by clicking the button to the right of the site listing. We also plan to add +1 to portal listings in the approved portal list as well, but we have not yet deployed the feature in that portion of the portal directory. I will post in this thread once we have that working too.
Finally, we've added Google +1 buttons on every GPWA sponsor page. If you like a sponsor program be sure to let other webmasters and Google know you think the program is awesome by giving a boost to the page about the program. We've also added Google's +1 button to the page about each affiliate program on our www.iGamingAffiliatePrograms.com website, so you can +1 a program on either site and the +1 will be reflected on both sites.
Michael