Microsoft today announced that it has struck deals with both Facebook and Twitter to integrate their real-time status updates into Bing results.  So what does this mean for search engines and marketers?

Google is conspicuously absent

[Update: Google announced a deal with Twitter hours after Bing]  A key bit of info here is that Bing’s deals with Facebook and Twitter are nonexclusive, which means there is nothing stopping Google from doing the same thing.  And since Google remains the 800 pound search engine gorilla, presumably Facebook and Twitter would not only allow Google to do the same, but would prefer it.

So if this deal is such a coup, why hasn’t Google followed suit? Certainly this idea has already occurred to Google.  After all, the idea that real-time search is a weak spot for Google is nothing new, and it’s actually a long-standing cause for speculation that Google might acquire Twitter.

Is Google Caffeine the missing link?

Google announced a couple months ago that it was releasing a new search infrastructure for its core search called “Google Caffeine.”  The idea was that it would be faster and more comprehensive than the current Google.   Combine that with the following quote from Google VP, Udi Manber, and it’s clear Google is moving toward real-time search:  “If something is written on the Web that is important, we should bring it back to you in seconds. Right now we’re in minutes. Five years ago, it was once a month.”

Google may be avoiding deals like the one Bing just struck in favor of a more robust solution, perhaps with Caffeine.   This would make sense, because Google is known for insisting on scalable, algorithmic solutions rather than manual Band-Aids.  And when you think about it, what could be more of a manual Band-Aid to the real-time search problem than pumping in results from two other websites?

The Twitter spam problem

In addition to the issues of scalability and comprehensiveness, there are some serious quality control issues with integrating Twitter and Facebook into search engine results.  In particular, Twitter is a spammy mess, and if Twitter can’t or won’t fix the problem, then any search engines that use its results will either inherit the problem or have to fix it themselves.  To make things worse, incorporating Twitter results into search engines only amplifies the incentives for spammers.

More reasons to embrace social media

Regardless of how this all pans out, if you’ve been reluctant to jump on the social media bandwagon, this is another reason to get started, as social media and SEO are clearly overlapping.  It’s certainly going to be interesting to hear what the people from Google, Facebook and Bing have to say about it at the Avvocating Conference this coming January in Seattle.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 11:48 am by Nick and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.