Retailers value Google+ more than Facebook, Twitter

Google's +1 button is reportedly more popular than Facebook's Like button and Twitter's Tweet button, at least amongst retailers. In other words, when it comes to social plugins, Google+ is already embedded on more retail websites than Facebook or Twitter.

The new finding comes from Darren Herman, chief digital officer at The Media Kitchen, a media planning and buying advertising agency. Herman worked with Evidon, which tracks online ad tags, and found that across 20 popular e-commerce destinations, the social plugins were implemented as follows: Google+ (45 percent), Facebook (40 percent), Twitter (15 percent), and AddThis (15 percent).

Here are the 20 e-commerce websites that were tracked: Best Buy, CouponCabin, Sports Authority, LL Bean, Gap, Dicks Sporting Goods, Bed Bath & Beyond, SVPPLY, DSW.com, Modells, Zappos, Old Navy, Disney, Target, Walmart, Gilt, Sears, Amazon, NewEgg, and Piperlime. This is no fluke; these are big names and they undoubtedly took a lot of time and resources to make sure they were making the sensible choice when choosing which social networking button to embed.

Six months ago, Facebook plugins were the most used, but the Google +1 button had already passed Twitter's various buttons. I would guess Facebook is still first today, but only when considering all types of websites, and its lead may not last for much longer.

So, why is Google+ already winning with retailers? Well, by adding +1 buttons to their websites, businesses can potentially improve their Google search ranking. That's something that Facebook, Twitter, and every other social network simply can't offer.

Google's +1 button tells Google that you like what you see. On Google+, the action can show up in your stream, but on Google, it could also improve a given website's ranking. For retailers, being higher up on the search results page can be crucial, so they'll do anything to increase their chances with Google.

See also:

• Google to Facebook: "We are delighted to be underestimated"
• Facebook is destroying Google in time spent online (chart)
• Facebook now lets you update Twitter
• Google: Facebook is becoming "a closed walled garden"
• Sean Parker: Facebook's power users have gone to Twitter, Google+
• Twitter more popular than Facebook in 2011
• The rich flock to Facebook, don't bother with Twitter
• Facebook is beating Google in 'the battle for eyeballs'