seotworank: Ignoring social media just stopped working

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Ignoring social media just stopped working

by Mike Moran

OK, OK, maybe it stopped working a while ago. Maybe you thought it stopped working when Google debuted Universal Search. Or maybe you thought it stopped working when Bing hooked up with Facebook. But if you were hanging on and saying, "Google doesn't personalize THAT may results," then this wakeup call is for you. If you think nothing matters until Google does it, well, Google did it. Those social results that hung around at the bottom of the page that most people didn't look at? Google is now saying that what your friends think will change the ranking of organic search. Game on.

Why is Google doing this? As with most big changes, there isn't just one reason:

It works better. I know it sounds simple, but some things are. Google has undoubtedly tested this to death and they must be persuaded that the results are improved.

Image representing Google as depicted in Crunc...

Image via CrunchBase

To match Bing. While the charges have been flying about which search engine is copying the other, the truth is that Bing's deal with Facebook had to annoy the good geeks at Google. They wanted to fire back with a "me too" that shows they "get" social.
To pressure Facebook. Because Bing locked up all that juicy Facebook data, Google is using everything else it has. Wil this put Facebook in a position where they are left out of social search on the biggest engine of all? I don't know if that will force facebook to be more open and share data more equitably, but it's worth a try on the part of Google.
To fight spam. This one might sound a bit odd, but spamming is an arms race and every time the algorithm changes it provides and advantage to the search engine, because spammers must now have to figure out how to spam your friends. This one sounds a bit too tough fo rme, but the spammers always seem to rise to the occasion.

If you've been sitting on the sidelines thinking that you could ignore social until it goes away, you're running the risk that Google will ignore you until you go away.