Google +1 and social search - what's in it for you?

As Google is current rolling out its social search across 19 countries, I thought it'd be interesting to have a look at the effect of this and Google+1 on the SERPs and your SEO strategy (thank you @rochelledancel for the suggestion!).

Social search, what is it?

To put it simply, social search is the integration of social media results in the standard Google SERPs. For this to work, you need to be logged in to your google account and synchronise it with your other social accounts (twitter, facebook, you get the idea....). Your search results will now include pages/sites that have been liked or selected by your social contacts as well as the standard google results. The social element will be added just below the affected results.

Google +1

Google +1 works on the same principle and is the google answer to the Facebook "Like". If you like a site, you can just "+1" it , and friends in your network will see it displayed more prominently in their results pages.

What's the SEO impact?

Well at this point in time it is still difficult to assess as social search is still in its infancy. And like every new google tool, it could disappear very quickly (remember wave and buzz??).
One thing that is clear is the fact that if you don't have a google account synchronised with your other social media accounts, nothing will change. And if you do take the time to do this, then you'll also take the time to like or +1 sites that are relevant to you, so hopefully relevant to google too.


What should you do?

So at this point, I don't think there's any need for SEO experts to panic about social search, as if you get the basics right, people will naturally like your site, therefore reinforcing your rankings. Business as usual is the word, continue your SEO efforts with users in mind but don't forget to add those trendy social bookmark buttons on your site to cover all basis!

Are you worried about the impact of social search? have you experienced changes in your rankings? share your views

Google layout changes...for the best?

Google has officially rolled out its SERP new layout, and at first glance, I'm not entirely convinced by this new presentation.
I guess it's like everything else, as time goes I'll probably just get used to the new layout and there must be a very clever explanation behind the update...but why change something that is so familiar to millions of people across the world?
More information and a comprehensive list of changes:

http://www.reelseo.com/googles-search-result-pages/
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/google-design-turned-up-notch.html

What do you think? do you like this new look?