Google Goes Real Time – What happens next?
This week Google announced their real time search on Google – a scrolling real time box containing messages with the keyword(s) in. If you want an example you can look at the real time results for global warming. So everyone has been talking about how easy it is going to be to spam the hell out of this – which is kind of obvious really, although I’m sure they will be able to use some kind of clever coding to filter out the spam. But it only just dawned on me how much of a change this is.
Until now, many people and companies haven’t been taking Twitter that seriously, with very few businesses (except perhaps a few) signing up for a Twitter account. But what Google have just done will force these companies to get one and start engaging with the public. The reason? Well check out the Amazon query for a few minutes and I am sure you will see a complaint (aswell as around a hundred offers!) – if Amazon doesn’t respond, it would reflect badly upon them, take this one for example:
So I think the new real time results in Google are going to force companies to sign up to sites like Twitter and perhaps get a blog, also I believe it will encourage general users to sign up to Twitter – which is kind of funny since I’m sure Google’s new change will accelerate Twitter’s growth substantially!
16 Comments
Kean - http://www.keanrichmond.com
I’m not sure how useful the whole real time search will be and how relevant it will actually be. I doubt Google has as sophisticated an algorythm for the tweets it shows than it has for normal rankings.
I’ve also seen the real time search box appear both within listings and above them, I’m not sure which is the definitive position, if there is one at all. What I do know is that they simply just get in the way and i’d rather they be behind a tab or somewhere more out the way.
Tom - http://www.stag-marketing.co.uk
I’m sure Google’s new change will accelerate Twitter’s growth substantially!
Exactly!
Lea
Still under rollout – I’m waiting to see any. 🙁
Dave - http://www.djb31st.co.uk
Some interesting comments on the ease that the new real time results can be abused http://outspokenmedia.com/seo/google-real-time-spam/
Amelia Vargo
I can’t help thinking the first comment has a point here. How useful will this really be? I think I’d prefer it behind a tab somewhere.
Though it will be really useful for people to see instantly what others say about a brand or product before making a buying decision.
Jason Braud - http://www.ProfitOptimizationGroup.com
Great post David!
I too believe this is a great new feature for all search engines. The thing about Google that might hurt them in the CTR to those tweets and real time search is that they aren’t going to be REAL relevant!
Have you heard about Yahoo! real time search? They are focusing more one the relevancy of the the tweets as to the exact moment in time the tweets are posted, this should increase their CTR more than Google.. Just kind of my thought on it though 🙂
Heres is the link from a post over on searchenginejournal.com
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/yahoo-integrates-twitter-in-search-results/15366/
Great content David! I look forward to reading more of your posts!
Jason Braud
Mark Jackson - http://www.vizioninteractive.com
“though it will be really useful for people to see instantly what others say about a brand or product before making a decision”….*the issue here is that you may or may not be actually seeing an opinion from a real consumer. This could be a bot? This could be a competitor? We don’t know yet what type of filters are in place to stave off any abuse. And, even if it were a human providing the opinion on the brand or product, you are getting a sample size of 1 to form your opinion? There are already ways for peope to affect the brand (RipOffReport among other social profiles/review sites where “anyone” can put a negative comment out there. This is just another opportunity for people who may not have the best of intentions.
Justine - http://www.mesrianilaw.com/
Real time search and twitter give opportunity for businesses to grow. Just be mindful to post quality and credible content.
Austin - http://www.activbridgend.com
I have been following the twitter feed on Google results since last week. If you google Amazon today, the feed which was there has now gone !?!
On the whole, I dont see the appeal of having tweets scrolling on a search results page – To me, it feels out of place.
However, this could be google’s way of displaying all the indexed tweets relating to a keyword without drenching the SERPS with tweets.
Keith D Mains - http://tvworlds.com
I saw this a couple of days back and and took an immediate dislike to it, as did others I showed it to.
One of the strong points of Google is it’s simplicity. This merely detracts from that and I can’t see me using it, I will just become blind to it. I don’t like things moving around on the screen at the best of times, unless I have asked a site to do so.
But then I also dislike Twitter, MySpace, Facebook etc, so I for one won’t be forced to use the likes of Twitter by this move by Google.
I find Twitter, from the little I looked it over, a mish mash of irrelevant old crud with a load of time consuming uninteresting information that I would rather and do not have the time to read.
I am always very slow to jump on the bandwagon with things and the annoying Google scrolling News box and Twitter would be bandwagon’s I will not be jumpin on board with for quite some time, if ever!
David W
For those guys who haven’t seen it, the real time search for Amazon is back up.
Emilie - http://malta.cc/
Using Google.com from Malta (Europe), we still can’t see real time results. Maybe it’s not global yet, or I’m missing something 😛
Is there some code we can put in search query to see it? Thanks.
Dave - http://www.djb31st.co.uk
Working fine over here in Cyprus, just to confirm that its not just UK/USA rollout so far.
It should always show on http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=aplusk or maybe you need to query another DC.
Try http://209.85.129.103/search?hl=en&q=aplusk
TallTroll
Of all the abortions Google has ever let loose on the world, real-time search one of the most offensive. Plenty of people actually still don’t know what Twitter is, let alone get involved, and certainly don’t care what an insular, self satisfied, hybrid driving, smug faced bunch of tossers have to say about anything, but now, for certain queries determined by Google, you are forced to have their inane, intellectually stunted 140 chars of horror in your eyeline with no opt out.
>> So I think the new real time results in Google are going to force companies to sign up to sites like Twitter and perhaps get a blog
Might be right. And what a monumental waste of time and resources that will be. Companies that aren’t ready to take on that kind of activity will screw it up, and get soured on the whole online thing.
Just as a more general point Google need to get a lot less impressed with themselves, and the crap they cram into search results. They can’t read my mind or anyone elses’, and they have never been very good at working out what people actually want from a few entered search terms – and they won’t let me switch off the bits I don’t need
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Matthew - http://seomalta.com
It seems that Google have stopped the real time search as twitter excluded themselves from Google’s search results…