Google+ Embedded Posts, Explained

Google has made its social network a bit less insular with the launch of two new features to make Google+ posts more visible.

First, Google has launched a limited integration of Google+ Sign-In, the company's single sign-on service, with its Authorship program, a service that allows online authors to present Google+ social data, like a profile picture, with Google search and Google News links to articles they've written.

Authorship program participants who log in to either of the two publishing platforms supported — WordPress or TypePad — via Google+ Sign-In can expect the posts they publish to be adorned with extra data in Google search results and in Google News, thereby attracting more online traffic, at least in theory.

Google says it's also working with other websites, including About.com, Examiner and WikiHow, to expand the Google Sign-In integration.

Google launched Google+ Sign-In in February, positioning it as a simple, secure, spam-resistant method of app authentication and content sharing.

Second, Google has introduced a way to embed Google+ posts in third-party websites, just as Facebook did a month ago, Instagram did two months ago, and Twitter did in January.

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"With embedded posts, site owners can now add your public Google+ posts to their webpages — as a primary source, for example, or to highlight your point of view," explained Seth Sternberg, director of product management for Google+, in a blog post. "Text, photo and media posts are all supported, and the embeds are fully interactive, so visitors can +1, comment and follow you inline."

Embedded posts appeal to social networks because the JavaScript embed code placed on an external website provides analytics data and helps drive traffic back to the social network. Text from a popular post that has been manually copied and quoted on a Web page doesn't call out to the originating website's server and may not include a link back to the source.

Embedded posts have some limitations. Their appearance cannot be customized and certain types of posts are not supported: posts from within a community or in a restricted Google Apps domain, private posts, event posts and Hangout on Air posts.

They also come with some rules, as described in Google's Embedded Content Policy. By embedding Google+ content in a website, the website publisher grants Google permission to analyze how the content is used and to take action to remedy policy or terms of service violations.