When a user finds something interesting on the web, sometimes a lightweight endorsement feels right. Other times a user justs want to share it with friends, right away. This document will help webmasters and programmers add a Google+ share button to their pages.

Your use of the share code is subject to the Google Button Publisher Policies.

Getting Started

A Simple Button

The simplest way to include a share button on your page is just by including the necessary JavaScript and adding a share tag. This basic implementation will include the standard 20px share button with a variable width.

<script src="https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js"></script>
<g:plus action="share"></g:plus>

The script must be sourced at https and can be included at any point on the page without restriction (see the FAQ for more information). You can also load the script asynchronously for better performance.

Share Tag

Here is the standard share tag syntax:

<g:plus action="share" ...></g:plus>

If you want, you can use this HTML5-valid share tag (the class attribute must be set to g-plus, and any button attributes must be prefixed with data-).

<div class="g-plus" data-action="share" ... ></div>

By default, the included script will traverse the DOM and render share tags as buttons. You can improve rendering time on large pages by using the JavaScript API to traverse only a single element within the page, or to render a specific element as a share button.

Asynchronous JavaScript Loading

Asynchronous inclusion allows your web page to continue loading while your browser fetches the share JavaScript. By loading these elements in parallel, you're ensuring the HTTP request that gets the share button JavaScript doesn't increase your page load time.

To include the share button JavaScript asynchronously, use the following code:

<script type="text/javascript">
  (function() {
    var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true;
    po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js';
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s);
  })();
</script>

If you would like to set script tag parameters, use the following syntax:

window.___gcfg = {
  lang: 'en-US',
  parsetags: 'onload'
};

A full example is included in the Examples section.

Configuration

Setting the URL to share

The URL that is shared is determined by one of three things, in this order:

1. The share tag's href attribute

This attribute explicitly defines the URL to share.

2. The page's <link rel="canonical" ... /> tag

If the share tag's href attribute is not provided, Google will use the page's canonical URL. For more information on defining the canonical URL for a page, see the Canonicalization help article.

3. The URL provided by document.location.href (not recommended)

If neither of the previous pieces of data are present, Google will use the URL of the page as found in the DOM. Because this URL might contain session IDs, anchors, or other parameters that are not actually part of the canonical URL, we highly recommend either setting the href attribute or adding a <link rel="canonical" ...> tag to your page.

Script Tag Parameters

These parameters are defined within the <script /> element and control the language and button loading across the entire web page.

Share Tag Attributes

These parameters control settings for each button. You can set these parameters as attribute/value pairs on share tags, or as key/value pairs in a call to gapi.plus.render .

{
  "id": target URL,
  "type": hover|confirm
}

Button Sizes

The following table lists some example button sizes and the attribute values.

Populating the +Snippet

The share bubble (along with the resulting Google+ activity post) includes a preview, or +Snippet, that contains the page title, a brief description of the page, and a thumbnail image. These pieces of data are extracted from content found at the share URL and may be easily specified by the owner of that content.

For detailed information please see the snippet documentation.

JavaScript API

The share button JavaScript defines two button-rendering functions under the gapi.plus namespace. You need to call these functions only if you disable automatic rendering by setting parsetags to "explicit ".

Share Link

The share link is intended for native client applications, Flash applications, highly privacy-sensitive sites, and others who may not be able to use the +1 or share button. Adding the following markup to your site will include a simple icon which will pop open a share dialog for your visitors.

<a href="https://plus.google.com/share?url={URL}" onclick="javascript:window.open(this.href,
  '', 'menubar=no,toolbar=no,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes,height=600,width=600');return false;"><img
  src="https://www.gstatic.com/images/icons/gplus-64.png" alt="Share on Google+"/></a>

Note: Replace {URL} with the URL of the page you want to share. You must properly escape any user-generated content that may occur within {URL}

Share Link Sizes

Size	Example	Image URL	Width	Height
Large		https://www.gstatic.com/images/icons/gplus-64.png	64	64
Medium		https://www.gstatic.com/images/icons/gplus-32.png	32	32
Small		https://www.gstatic.com/images/icons/gplus-16.png	16	16

Share Endpoint

The share link invokes the Google+ share endpoint, which you can also link to directly:

https://plus.google.com/share

The Google+ share endpoint accepts the following query parameters:

Share Bookmarklet

Drag and drop this link to your Bookmarks Bar to be able to easily Share on Google+.

Examples

Basic Page

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Share demo: Basic page</title>
    <link rel="canonical" href="http://www.example.com" />
    <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js">
    </script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <g:plus action="share"></g:plus>
  </body>
</html>

Asynchronous Load

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Share Demo: Async load</title>
    <link rel="canonical" href="http://www.example.com" />
  </head>
  <body>
    <g:plus action="share"></g:plus>

    <script type="text/javascript">
      window.___gcfg = {
        lang: 'en-US'
      };

      (function() {
        var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true;
        po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js';
        var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s);
      })();
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

Mobile

Share on Android

Content can be shared from your app to Google+ by using the standard ACTION_SEND intent, which can launch the Google+ share dialog. For more information, see Share on Google+ for Android

Share on iOS

The Google+ iOS SDK provides a share dialog for users to share rich content from your app. For more information, see Share on Google+ for iOS.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I place multiple buttons on a single page that all share different URLs?

Yes. Use the href attribute as specified in share tag parameters to indicate the URL to be shared.

Is there any latency impact from the position of the <script> tag in the page?

No, there is no significant latency impact from the placement of the <script> tag. However, by placing the tag at the bottom of the document, just before the body close tag, you may improve the loading speed of the page.

Does the <script> tag need to be included before the share tag?

No, the <script> tag can be included anywhere in the page.

Does the <script> tag need to be included before another <script> tag calls one of the methods in the JavaScript API section?

Yes, if you use any of the JavaScript API methods, they need to be placed in the page, after the <script> inclusion.

Do I need to use the href attribute?

The href attribute is not required. See share URL for more information

Why is the hover bubble cut off by Adobe Flash content?

By default Flash content renders in front of all other HTML content. This includes hover bubbles and other content rendered by the share button. This may result in some share button content appearing to be cut off by Adobe Flash elements in your page.

The solution depends on your situation. If you can edit the HTML source code for the Flash object on your page, you can simply add a property to the object element. However, if the Flash element is being added to your page by a script (as is the typical case for ads), you will need a more sophisticated solution.

First, if you have access to the HTML source code for the Flash object on your page, you must set the wmode parameter to 'transparent'. You can do this by adding a parameter to the Flash object element:

<object ... >
<param name="wmode" value="transparent">
... </object>

For other cases, where the Flash element is added by a script, you may still be able to resolve this issue. You can programmatically add the above described parameter using JavaScript. FlashHeed is an example of this technique. This will work as long as the Flash is not embedded inside an iframe. If the Flash element is inside an iframe, you must reposition either the Flash content or the share button to prevent an overlap.

What web browsers are supported?

All Google+ plugins support the same web browsers as the Google+ web interface:

• Windows: Chrome, Firefox 3.6 and up, Internet Explorer 8 and up
• Linux : Chrome, Firefox 3.6 and up
• Mac: Chrome, Firefox 3.6 and up, Safari 4 and up

Language Codes