Search Gets More Personal with Subscribed Links

Posted by Laura Bergells

August 13, 2007

If you have a business blog or website, you will want to think about the implications of this little button from Google:

What’s up with the above button? Well, you can touch it and find out!

(Go ahead and try it. First, touch the button. Next, go to Google and search for “PowerPoint templates“. Then, come back here to read the rest of the article. I’ll wait for ya….)

OK. So, here’s what happened, and why this button may be important for YOUR OWN online businesses:

Real World Example: Let’s say you’re a regular reader at my All About Presentation Blog. You keep coming back, week after week, to see what I’m going to post next. This means you’ve gotten to know me a little through repeat visits.

And because you keep coming back, you’ve come to trust my expertise in this very niche area.

So the next time you want a little presentation inspiration and you go searching for, say, “PowerPoint Templates” at the Big G, you’ll get a guided tour. Instead of seeing whatever Google decides #1, #2, and #3 in the rankings should be — you’ll want to be reminded that your trusted and friendly expert, Laura Bergells, offers a wealth of expertise and ideas in the area of PowerPoint.

Touching the above button is the equivalent of raising your hand and saying, “OK! I trust Laura’s opinions and advice about PowerPoint templates. The next time I do a Google search for PowerPoint templates, I want to be reminded of the new stuff Laura’s got going at her blog. I trust her to point me in new and fascinating directions.”

When you touch the above button, the next time you login to any one of your Google accounts (Gmail, Analytics, Adwords, etc.) and do a search for PowerPoint templates, you’re going to see a subscribed link at the top of the searches. It looks like this:

PowerPoint Templates Subscribed links

So how will this affect YOUR business? I can instantly think of two clear ways:

Offering your expertise positions you as a thought leader. The button simply makes it easy for people to raise their hands and say “In the future, I trust this company’s expertise to guide me at Google”.
Getting a top position with a subscribed link is highly personal advertising. I can imagine that Google’s public ranking formula will eventually adapt itself to include how many people have raised their hands and subscribed to your area of expertise.

Asking your employees, subscribers, and business partners to “Touch the Button” may help you gain present and future search prominence. And creating a button for your site or blog is easy: you can do it in a few minutes by visiting Google Co-op.

Now, I only created the above button as an example for the niche of “PowerPoint Templates.” I don’t claim to have any expertise in the areas of say, “Grand Rapids Real Estate” or “Eco-Friendly Office Furniture”. But if your business has a well-defined niche where you are striving to gain search engine and mindshare prominence, why not make it easy for others to gain from your expertise?

How will the Google Subscribed Link impact your online business?