I guess it had to happen, in it bid to stay one step ahead of Bing.com & Yahoo.com, Google has announced the inclusion of placing "real time" results amongst the natural search results. This means that social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & blogs will be referenced like never before to allow twitters for example, placed minutes before to appear amongst related natural search results. The official video oulines the user benefits, view here:-
This has huge implications for website owners, Social Media was seen by many as more hype than any real business benefit, but with this new Google feature, it now firmly places Social Media at the heart of any SEO strategy. Website owners & agencies alike who did not take Social Media fully to heart will soon need to plan how to integrate Social Media as part & parcel of everyday SEO.
This not only presents opportunities for proactive companies but also places more work on clients who have to dedicate some time to get involved & update various Social Media websites. I expect to see a lot of SEO individuals to start "trying it on" with keywords stuffing at various mentioned sites etc. I have always stuck to my guns when it comes to any dubious method, short term gain is not what business is about, long term is much harder but is more profitable. Therefore, do not concentrate by over optimising for applicable keywords, instead place sensible posts, profiles with keywords that do not detract the user & Google does seem to reward this accordingly.
Still too early to know the full effects nonetheless if not already done, then now is a good time to start thinking about how to integrate Social Media as part of your overall SEO strategy. However, never go in blind, make sure that you tag up your Google Analytics to make sure you are able to find out exactly what impact this is having on your company's bottom line.
