dizzysoft softwareHow will Google integrate Twitter in their search results?
The big announcement Wednesday about Google integrating Twitter updates into its search results has made me wonder how this might affect natural search. It all depends on how they include Twitter in the results.
Clearly this is an attempt to make its results more time-relevant. Lots of electrons have been used to describe what Google did when Michael Jackson died- so many people searched for news that Google thought it was a malware attack and started blocking anyone searching for “Michael Jackson”. Meanwhile Twitter, who had recently added a search box to their homepage, emerged as a real-time search engine by keeping everyone informed with the latest information. Google has to integrate Twitter into its search results or it will not be useful or relevant in times like these.
As a matter of fact (and irony) a search of “Michael Jackson” in Google can give us a glimpse into how Google might include Twitter updates into its search results. Now your page might vary but here’s how my search looked:
The Google page started with a section of news stories, had a couple natural results, then included some videos and pictures, more natural results and finally a section for blogs and books about Michael Jackson.
Interestingly (has Google learned from their mistake?) the News results lead this query. News results do not always lead a search result. Whatever criteria Google uses to determine where the news results appear on a page could also be used to include Twitter updates.
In the same way Google has included pictures, videos, blogs and books in the middle of the natural search results. The point here is: Google could put a section of Twitter updates anywhere on the page it desires.
Between these categorical results are some naturally ranked pages. They fulfill all the conventional criteria to get ranked- keyword matched url (michaeljackson.com) and authority domains (wikipedia). Theoretically Google could rank a particular Twitter update as if it were a page in itself but this could be easily abused.
How ever Google includes Twitter results, it is clear that companies interested in ranking should also be interested in having a keyword presence on Twitter. Although the potential for abuse is clear, there will still be a legitimate interest in keeping your company relevant. Tweets that include keyword phrases that you want to rank for as well as SEO friendly re-directions will be very important.
No matter how Google integrates Twitter updates into its search results, if you are concerned with appearing in search results, you should sponsor FeedTwit.
I heard something about another search engine integrating Twitter updates into their results too. If you want to find out about that, Google it.
Can you think of any other ways Google might integrate Twitter updates into its search results? Please share them, below.
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Dude you thefted my Michael Jackson example… if you did that search right around when he died (like that day, the next day) you would find very little about his death. Google’s indexing takes time, and thus is no good with up-to-the-minute types of stories. Sure there are the “news results”, but they are insufficient.
I think they’ll mainly use linkage data (and mentions) more so than content itself. The content itself on Twitter is too little, not vetted, and too easily spammed. They’ll probably use to identify and alter time-sensitive searches towards whatever is buzzing or trending at the moment. That’s my thought anyhow.
January 11th, 2010 at 4:45 am
Im not sure how long Twitter integrations will last, at least not in it’s current state. At the moment it is far to open to manipultion and spam. Also reputation management i becomes a lot harder with Twitter results integrated. I think it was launched to remove any of the focus that was on Bing at the time and it will be removed fairly soon to be reconfigured and reapproached.