Google search queries are getting more social – if you are more social. Google is now concentrating efforts to get more people to “claim their Google profiles” and to use their logged in account for search. If you have created your profile, you have probably noticed that your Facebook friends, Twitter followers and LinkedIn comrades are showing up in the Google search results next to sites they like and articles they have shared. Pages that would not normally come up in 1st page results (or perhaps even the 10th page) are now showing based on your friend’s social connection to you. Google is now annotating the listing with photos as well as what social element you are connected by.
But what does this mean for SEO? Higher website rank and better click-through rate. For example, the more “likes” your site or article has from your social circle, the greater the chance that it will climb virally and organically up the Google search result ladder. Obviously this only works for those who have set up their Google Profiles – so that is the first battle! And for those nay-sayers who think it’s a waste of time to fill out their Google Profile, they might change their tune when you see how positively it can effect a site’s metrics. At least that is what Google hopes!
Check out Rand Fish’s article Social Annotations in Search: Now Your Social Network = Rankings to learn more about this cool new Social Butterfly Effect.
What do you think about this? Will it continue to help a site’s rankings in the long run? Could social pressure finally for once be a good thing? We want to hear from you!
As always, thanks for reading SEO Boy!
Felicia is an Account Executive at Hanapin Marketing, a search engine marketing firm focused on generating results through PPC and SEO.
     | do some of that social network stuff. |
