December 7th, 2009 – a date which will live in infamy. The World Wide Web was suddenly and deliberately indexed, in real time, by the robots from the Empire of Google.
So how will Google’s latest update change the rules? I immediately thought of one thing specifically – keyword tweeting.
Since Real Time Search (RTS) means that a LOT of twitter updates will flow, if you’re tweeting professionally, you need to step up your game.
No more tweets like “at @peiwei – I love this stuff”, now you’ll start seeing much more targeted tweets like “I’m at @peiwei for lunch – I love the Pei Wei Spicy Chicken #good #value #hungry”.
Facebook will probably also see a move in that direction, especially on Fan pages.
During the press conference, Amit Singhal, a Google fellow who heads Google’s ranking systems and oversaw the development of the new real-time search system, announced that they would be pulling RTS from a number of sources including:
- Tweets from Twitter
- Content from Google News
- Content from Google Blog Search
- Newly created web pages
- Freshly updated web pages
- FriendFeed update
- Jaiku updates
- Identi.ca updates
- TwitArmy updates
In the future, content from Facebook and MySpace will also be included. One thing I missed, but Danny Sullivan caught was, “Google also noted that it is expanding shortened URLs. You’ll still see the shortened version listed (say if it is from bit.ly or another URL shortener), but then you’ll also see the final destination URL. Content from that destination page is spidered.”
Danny has an awesome post that goes into a lot of the nooks and crannies of RTS, you should take the time to read his post at Search Engine Land.
So what does this mean to content producers? If you were half-assing it up until now, you will now be quarter-assing it, and probably be out of a job soon. If you write crappy headlines, it’s time to stop.
If you are Tweeting with a purpose, take note of what words you’re using.
One side effect of this may be that the automated tools that try to figure out sentiment may have an easier time if people start becoming more aware of how their updates are seen.
How is RTS going to effect your business?
You assume the average user cares 😉
Those who generate content deliberately for business MAY start doing so, but even that’s a stretch. Remember, the vast majority of business owners spew promotional tweets, untargeted to any given audience. They’re just happy with the 23 followers they have because they don’t measure squat.
There are many sheep that we need to pull away from the herd, Phil. Let’s do it, one business at a time 🙂
I think the average user will see whatever Google offers, which will be more and more real time results.
I do agree most small and mid-sized businesses may not be tweeting with real purpose yet, but there are plenty of savvy companies that will see this a real opportunity to distance themselves in search, just like early adopters of SEO did back in the day.
I’ll be fascinated to see how my newspaper markets view this development. I’m sure that the big guns are developing a strategy to deal with breaking news stories (Tiger Woods, Balloon Boy, etc.) in a real time world.
I was having a conversation with Dave Bartos (@david_bartos) today about Twitter and how news breaks… We were laughing that Twitter was wide open with Tiger drama when it first came out, but then we were all like, “Yeah, okay. Let’s shut up about it.” Except for you, of course 😉
It’s interesting how Twitter can not only disseminate news so quickly, but return to normal in a matter of hours. Traditional media is still whining about Tiger Woods (because it entices the audience and boosts ratings, I’m sure).
*shrug* Only time will tell what will happen. Until then, sit back and drink it up, boys!
I think this is going to force SEO’s to really step up their game! Personally, I first noticed this in action yesterday when Google put up the Popeye logo to commemorate it’s creator’s birthday. It was really exciting to see tweets (and backlinks) streaming live right in the SERPs! A truly extraordinary development.
You’re right Jacob, but then again, what doesn’t Google do that causes SEO’s to constantly stay on top of their game. When they’re tweaking the algorithm twice a day, it’s almost impossible to imagine anyone except a full-time SEO could be expected to keep up.
Ewww. If Twitter and Facebook are transformed like that, it will make my twit stream look more like marketing messages. Which will turn me off, and make me use it less.
I think it depends on who you follow. I think “professional” tweeters working as brand evangelists will have to think about keywords more than some guy tweeting about eating at The Pit yet again 😉
I think that Twitter users SHOULD take note and chose their wording accordingly. I know I won’t mind seeing more tweets that actually SAY what they’re talking about. Phil’s right – let’s transition from “I love this stuff” to “Phil Buckley’s blog post at http://www.1918.com had great information about Google’s Real-Time Search #twitter #facebook.” 😉
I like that one Morgan!
oh great, the downfall of twitter. Over time it will be used less and less by real people.
Twitter is already awash in spambots and robo-accounts, but it still holds appeal for real people, even if marketers are getting smarter about the keywords they’re tweeting