When you create and share content online, you want people to know you're the author— no matter how far that content may travel. Not only do you get the credit, you can also grow your audience over time. Today we're introducing two Google+ platform features that help authors do both — on Google, and across the web.

Author attribution

Starting today we’re integrating Google+ Sign-In with Google’s Authorship program. So if you connect your WordPress.com account with Google, for instance, the articles you publish will now be associated with your Google+ profile automatically.

With this association in place, we can look for ways to surface your info when it's most relevant. For example, today users may see your name, picture and/or a link to your Google+ profile when your content appears in Search, News and other Google products.



We’re piloting this integration with two major platforms today: WordPress and Typepad. We’re also working with a variety of other sites — including About.com, WikiHow, and Examiner — so we can learn and expand the pilot to all kinds of sites and apps using Google+ Sign-In.

Embedded posts

In addition to sites like WordPress and Typepad, many of you (in fact, millions of you) are posting content on Google+. We want to make it easy to expand your audience across the web, so today we’re introducing embedded posts.

With embedded posts, site owners can now add your public Google+ posts to their web pages — as a primary source, for example, or to highlight your point of view. Text, photo and media posts are all supported, and the embeds are fully interactive, so visitors can +1, comment and follow you inline.



If you’re a site owner and you’d like to embed a post, simply find a public post on Google+, and select ‘Embed post’ from the drop-down menu. Copy the code, add it to your web page, and you’re all set! We've also worked with the following sites, so you can see embeds in action: Business Insider, Elle, Eurosport, Financial Times, LA Times, National Geographic, NDTV.com, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, People StyleWatch, TechCrunch, Thrillist, TV Guide, US Weekly, and The Verge.

To learn more about today’s announcements, feel free to check out our Help Center and developer documentation.


Posted by Seth Sternberg, Director of Product Management, Google+

Back in February we added a new feature to the Google+ platform: application sign-in. Since then we've launched numerous improvements (like cross-device single sign-on, app activities in Google Search, and over-the-air Android install metrics), and we've seen more and more apps offer great experiences with Google+ Sign-In.

Developers continue to see positive results, so we've highlighted some overall trends and illustrative numbers below.

Google+ Sign-In boosts Android downloads
Developers have found that enabling over-the-air installs on their websites effectively drives Android downloads, leading to a more unified experience across desktop and mobile. On average, 40% of Android users accept the offer to install a website's mobile app, yet some apps like fitness tracker Fitbit has seen a 60% acceptance rate.

Users prefer Google+ Sign-In
Google+ Sign-In lets users sign in to apps with their existing Google credentials, including the sign-in protections they expect (like 2-step verification). Cloud platform provider JoliCloud has discovered that Google+ Sign-In is their most popular option on the web, with 48% of users choosing Google. Movie app Flixster has found that Google+ Sign-In is their most popular third-party option on the web (35%), and their most popular option on Android (45%). Google+Sign-In is also the most popular option on Android for music app Songza, with 40% of users signing in with Google.

Google+ Sign-In increases new user registrations
Adding the option to sign in with Google has advanced the rate of new user growth for many apps. Mobile shopping app Snapette has seen a 16% acceleration in registered users, and pixiv, one of Japan's most popular social networks, has seen a 21% increase in new user registrations. Integrating with Google has also led to a 25% reduction in bounce rate from pixiv’s new user registration page.

To learn more about Google+ Sign-In, check out our Google+ Developers site and view our Case Studies page.


Posted by Seth Sternberg, Director of Product Management, Google+

If you are familiar with social web development, it’s easy to integrate the features of the Google+ platform, including Google+ Sign-In, into your web application. In fact, we’ve written a handy guide - initially focusing on existing Facebook integrations - to help you create a meaningful integration that will work with your existing social and business logic. The guide walks you through:

1. Basic Setup: create a project in the Google APIs console, include the Google+ JavaScript Client Library, and configure the ‘Sign in with Google’ button. 
2. Identity Logic: structure your application to allow for users with multiple social identities, and create readable, maintainable code that allows you to work with users that have signed in with different social identity providers. 
3. Feature Translation: add Google+ platform features that match your app’s other social features to create a seamless user experience across social identities. 
4. Going Beyond: discover the unique capabilities of the Google+ platform, such as cross-platform single sign on and over-the-air installs.

If you’d like to learn more, check out our Adding Google+ to your Facebook Integration guide and watch the related Google+ Developers Live episode.


Posted by +Sam Stern, Google+ Developer Relations

Google+ makes it easy for Google Apps customers to connect and share within their organization and encourage collaboration between teams. Today we’re launching an update to the Google+ Android app that includes a number of new features for Google Apps customers, and a new developer offering, the Google+ Domains API.

The Google+ Domains API allows Google Apps customers to integrate Google+ into their existing tools and processes, and allows enterprise software vendors to access Google+ from their products. Applications using the Google+ Domains API can act on behalf of Google Apps users to share posts within the same domain, comment on posts shared within the domain, and manage circles. In addition, the Google+ Domains API enables Google Apps domain administrators to pre-populate the circles of new employees, or review sharing activity.

For example, Ocado is building a tool that uses the Google+ Domains API to regularly sync team membership stored in Active Directory with the circles of their employees. This will ensure that every employee always has an up to date circle containing the other members of their team. Cloudlock is using the Google+ Domains API to add support for Google+ to its suite of data loss prevention, governance, and compliance applications.



Any developer can begin developing with the Google+ Domains API today. However only members of a Google Apps domain can use Google+ Domains API applications. To get started check out the documentation. If you have any questions, you can consult the google-plus tag on Stack Overflow, or join the “Developing with Google+” community.


Posted by Thor Mitchell, Product Manager, Google+ API


Cross posted to the Google Apps Developer blog

UPDATE (11/14/13): All page and profile badges have been updated to the new visual style.

UPDATE (11/7/13): All +1 and Share buttons have been updated to the new visual style.

Today we're launching a bunch of new plugins that help visitors to connect with you on Google+, directly from your website. These include:

A new Follow button 
The Google+ Follow button is a standalone plugin that — as you might expect — lets visitors follow you from your site. It’s nice and compact, so it integrates easily with your existing social buttons.

The Follow button is simple to add to your website. In fact, if you've already installed the +1 button, no new JavaScript is required. Just configure the plugin, add the markup to your page, and you’re all set.

You can already see the new Follow button on the following websites: Celebuzz, Cooking Light, Fitness Magazine, and Huffington Post.

A new badge for Communities 
Community managers have been asking for a way to attract members across the web, so today we're introducing badges for Google+ Communities. These badges are highly configurable, making it easy to match your site design.

Community badge examples using Dark and Light color themes

When visitors click the 'Preview' button they'll see your community page in a new browser tab. From there they can view recent posts (subject to your community's privacy settings), as well as join. Returning to your site is as simple as closing the new tab.

Updated badges for Pages and Profiles 
Like the new Communities badge, the updated Page and Profile badges are highly customizable, including portrait and landscape modes, light and dark themes, and turning on/off items like the cover photo and tagline.

Profile badge examples using Light color theme

Page badges examples using Dark color theme

Existing badges will stick around for up to 90 days, giving you time to configure the new version for your website. After 90 days, we'll automatically upgrade any Google+ badges to the new design.

Finally, today's plugin updates include a new visual style that's more consistent with the recent improvements to Google+. This includes the +1 and Share buttons, which will be updated automatically over the next few weeks.

We'd love to hear your feedback on today's new features, so follow the conversation on Google+ and let us know what you think!


Posted by Raj Iyengar, Product Manager, Google+

We recognize that users aren’t just using one device to interact with your app. They switch between laptops, tablets, and mobile devices daily. We’re focused on making desktop and mobile work better together so users have a seamless experience between platforms and devices. And today, we are launching another step in this direction -- cross-device single sign-on (SSO).

Cross-device SSO lets you stay connected to users and more easily keep them engaged across devices, removing the friction of consent and authentication. Now, when a user signs in with Google on one device, they grant consent once and can continue their experience seamlessly between web and Android devices. For example, if a user signs in with Google on the web and adds items to their cart but doesn’t get around to completing the purchase, if they switch to your app on their Android device, Google+ Sign-In will automatically authenticate the user, so they can be taken directly to the same state and resume their purchase.

We are rolling out this feature on the web and via the new release of Google Play services v3.1 on Android over the coming days. It will be automatically enabled if you integrate Google+ Sign-In.

Get started and learn more at https://developers.google.com/+/features/sign-in.

Google+ platform at I/O:
With Google I/O underway today, we have a lot in store for developers. In addition to over 15 exciting sessions and code labs, we have a packed sandbox with over 50 partners showing off integrations with Google+ Sign-In, mobile recommendations, and Hangout apps.


Posted by Francis Ma, Product Manager, Google+

When you help someone find a great article on your site, you’re not only making them happier, you’re inspiring deeper engagement and loyalty. That's why today, we're bringing together elements of Google+ and Google Search to suggest the right content from your mobile website, at just the right time.

For example: Forbes visitors can now more easily discover other Forbes articles based on Search Authorship signals and other articles with lots of Google+ activity (including +1's and shares). In all cases, recommended content is based on the specific page the visitor is viewing, to boost the relevance of recommendations. And they only appear when people tap for more, so as not to interrupt their browsing experience. Here's how it works:

Recommendations can appear regardless whether your visitors are signed in to Google. But when they are, they'll see content that was +1'd or shared by the people in their circles:

We're also making it easy to add and configure these content recommendations. Just add a single line of javascript to your mobile website, and from there you can make changes in the "For your site" section of your Google+ page dashboard -- no web editor required.

To give today's features a try, feel free to visit any article page on Forbes on your favorite iOS or Android device. More details are also available in our developer docs: developers.google.com/+/features/recommendations.

Of course: we've got lots more planned for Google+ content recommendations, and Google+ Sign-In more generally, so we’re looking forward to having over 50 companies who have integrated Google+ Sign In share their stories (examples below) this week from Google I/O.

"Google+ Sign-In is the most popular social sign-in method on our Android application, measuring 41% of overall social sign-in users”

- Tom Grinstead, Product Manager, Guardian News 

"We're thrilled with the initial results of our Google+ Sign-In integration. Our analytics show tremendous sign-in conversion from Google, besting other popular social networks across web, Android and even iOS. Because of this success, we're considering removing other sign-in sources to give more prominence to this new growth channel."

- Haisoo Shin, Director of Engineering, Fancy

Google+ partners at Google I/O include: 

Air New Zealand, AllTheCooks, Banjo, Branchout, Business Insider, Colopla, Community Factory, Contacts+, Dealflicks, Deezer, Editora Globo, eHow, Fandango, Flixster, Forbes, Funny or Die, Glamour, Go SMS Pro, HRS.com, Huffington Post, ibotta, Jolicloud , Kabam, KickSend, KLM, Magisto, Mashable, mon.ki, n24, NDTV, NPR, Owners.com, Pixiv, Polygon, RebelMouse, Restalo.es, SB Nation, SkillPages, Slacker, Softonic, Songza, SoundCloud, Speakingtree, Synacor, Tamindir, Terra, The Fancy, The Guardian, The Verge, Trovit, TuneIn, Vasily, Verbling, and Voxy. 

See them all here.

Posted by Mario Anima, Product Manager, Google+