What does this mean? It means that live updates from Facebook and Twitter will now appear in search queries. It's not clear on how this new feature will affect web traffic and online conversions, but one thing is for sure it does have the ability to affect your brand.
For months I've been telling clients that social media is the new search engine optimization and this feature makes that more of a reality. Social media has become an integral part of search engine marketing and it does directly impact what potential consumers see when searching your brand.
If you are not monitoring what people are saying about your brand and your products, now is the time.
Real time search can provide your company with a way of being listed quickly in the search engines by buzz that is generated using social media networking sites like Twitter and Facebook; however it can also be a detriment if the buzz that is generated is not positive.
There are debates regarding real time search and whether or not it will be confusing to search engine users. It is also seen as taking up more front page real estate and making it even more difficult to gain those front page search engine results. These are two issues that many marketers will be keeping their eyes on to monitor both the positives and negatives of real time search.
There is one thing for sure this is only the beginning to the integration of social media and search engine results. It's not the time to ignore social media marketing, but rather a time to begin to embrace and create a social media strategy that ensures that your brand is not only visible to potential customers, but protected.
Want to test the real time search results? It's easy just visit Google Trends and click on the topic that is listed at the top and you will see the real time search feed in the results.
