Google Rolls Out Real-Time Search Integration

As promised, Google is starting to roll out “Real-Time” Search from sources like Twitter, News articles, fresh web pages, Yahoo Answers, etc… and is integrating them into their search results (Facebook and MySpace will soon be joining as Google has inked deals with both). Results will be displayed at the top of Page 1 in a block titled, “Latest Results from keyword phrase“.

These results will be displayed similar to how “News” has been populating into the search results. The difference is that it looks to be longer and with scrolling capability for more current results. There’s also an added function for drilling down into the data by time or date range. Real-time results do not appear to be taking the spots of natural listings in the Top 10… if anything, the results are pushed a little bit further down on the page.

“Google isn’t the first to initiate real-time search, but it is likely to make it mainstream.”

The implications of this new addition are a little too early to see clearly, but I think it will eventually change how we use search and therefore how we strategize for SEO. Google isn’t the first to initiate real-time search, but it is likely to make it mainstream. People are going to be taking crash courses and learning very quickly just how important the “now” information can be. Likewise, businesses are going to quickly see that having “active” social media profiles are not just good ideas… but necessary components of their search strategy. Businesses will also become mindful of the language used and will need to include search phrases (as it pertains) within their social profiles. I’m sure there will be some gaming attempts of the real-time results, but Google’s pretty quick at catching on - they’ll likely start to blacklist profiles from inclusion… so be careful not to overdo it and be mindful of your audience – they’re not dumb.

When looking at social media, the conversion rates thus far have been pretty miniscule (and over-hyped) when compared against traditional search conversions, but I think these conversions will change too, and should shoot way up with the new integration.

“…Real-Time Search will… [lead to] …an increase in bookmarking and back linking…”

Kind of a random thought, but I think one of the side effects of this new Real-Time Search will be an increase in bookmarking and back linking to the included sites and pages. With a traditional search, you could generally find the same page again simply by replicating the search (the Lazyman’s bookmark). With real-time resources… that information could be long buried. Searchers will be more likely to record these important time/date sensitive information somewhere… So another important feature that’s now even more necessary – having bookmarking scripts included on all of your web pages.

It’s pretty exciting stuff happening, and I think SEO as a whole be very busy in 2010!

Tags: google, Google SEO, real-time search

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 12:09 pm and is filed under Google & Search, SEO & Internet Marketing, Social Media & SMO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.