Social Search Cocktail

The Social Search Environment

A 2 part review of the current Social Search environment

When Social Buzz began

The influence your Social Media Marketing has on your online visibility has been increasing for the last 18 to 24 months. In late 2009 both Google and Bing began to consider elements of "Social Content" and Social Network Structures when determining where to place pages in reply to a Internet user's search query.

Not only were Social Networking connections becoming a factor, in some cases Tweets, Google Buzz and Facebook updates would be included in the Search Results. However, most of this content was only shared via those who permitted their Social Networking activities to be shared as part of their Google profile for the purpose of social interaction. Bing at this stage, would intermittently sprinkle Tweets within the Search Engine Results Pages.

Social Search Today

Jump forward to current times and the realm where Social meets Search which is becoming a battle ground as Google, Bing and Facebook pursue the holy grail of identity and information management.

What a huge marketing prize we all are. Therefore, you can guarantee your Social Media activities will be monitored when possible, considered and impact your business's viability in Search Engine Results such as Google and Bing and Social Search Results such as those used by Twitter and Facebook. Facebook in fact has a copyright for a Search Algorithm which is based on social interactions.

The Search and Social Alliances

The Search world is getting turned upside down. No longer is Google alone at the top of the majority of web statistics such as; visitors, times on site and so on. Facebook has been slowly catching up and finally overtaking Google in many of the fore mentioned web statistics. Add to this the fact Google has lost search share to Bing over the last couple of months and now the Google rein of power seems to slipping.

This may look like to independent competitors overtaking Google however, the real story here which will and is changing the web space we market in, is the alliance between Bing and Facebook. The arrangement between Bing and Facebook is far from formal with Bing owning an approximate 10% stake in Facebook. Something that disgruntles Google no end due to Facebook turning down a partnership agreement with Google in the past.

Sharing information Bing / Facebook

In some ways the Bing Facebook agreement is similar to the Bing / Yahoo agreement where both Facebook and Yahoo use Bing's search results. And that's about where the similarities end.. Bing has access to all wall and discussion posts which have been shared with everyone on Facebook, Where Google on the other hand only has access to the content included within Facebook's business offering Facebook Pages.

This is a significant amount of data which represents your social network; who you're connected with and what is shared all becomes part of the information used to determine Search and Social search results.

Google isn't short of user data

Google is far from starved of data about you and your Social Networks and activities. Although they don't have the wealth of information Facebook and Bing possess, they do have a few advantages which come from being the leader in Search for over a decade.

If you've got a Google account, use adwords, Gmail or any of Google's services, Google have filtered out an enormous amount of information about you and your business. Google as well as Bing currently have access to Twitters 140 Million user's Tweets and Re tweets from which an abundance of information about you and the strength of your network can be found.

The Last Word

There is absolutely no doubt that your online social activities influence your Search visibility. This trend will continue and evolve at an incredible pace. Every day a small change from any Social Network can have a significant impact on how visibly your business is online. The best advice is to develop Social Strategies to ensure a solid Social Media Marketing platform is developed which is fluent to account for the numerous ongoing changes.

Part 2 Social Media the Data reveals what elements the Search Engines are considering when selecting web pages for Search Results.

So what's your take on the current Social Search Environment?