The Return of Real-Time Search in Google

On February 15th Bloomberg reported that Twitter Inc. and Google Inc. struck a new deal giving Google access to indexing Twitter’s firehose, the stream of data generated by the social media site, of all Tweets into Real-Time Search results again . . .

No this article isn’t from 2009. It looks like the search engine and social media giants have finally renewed their deal and are planning on bringing back Real-Time Search powered by tweets within Google search results.

Google Real-Time Search – The History

Traveling back to 2009, when Penguins and Pandas were still cuddly little black and white animals and not the algorithm updates wreaking havoc on sites today, Google announced its launch of an infrastructure built entirely for the purpose of providing real-time news, social media and blogging information to users. Who was the main driver of this Real-Time content? The social media giant known as Twitter.

The goal of Google’s Real-Time Search was to bring search results to life with a dynamic stream of Real-Time content from across the web, live and updating automatically before searchers’ eyes.

So What Happened to Real-Time Search?

In 2011 Google announced that they were pulling the plug on Real-Time Search all together. Was it the launch of Google+ in 2011 that ended the partnership and in turn Real-Time Search all together? Was this an effort by Google to drive users and content for their own social media site? What actually happened? We may never know, but it could be said that Twitter and Google may have come to a bit of a stand off over Real-Time Search.

One thing we do know is Twitter needed Google to continue offering archived search, while Google also potentially needed Twitter as by far the largest driver of Real-Time content.

What to Expect from the Re-Launch of Real-Time Search

Fast forward to 2015, engineers from Twitter and Google are currently working out the specifics for the re-launch of Real-Time Search, but what is known is that Tweets will once again be accessible in real-time through Google sometime in the first half of 2015. What does this mean for SEO and the two Internet giants?

When it comes to SEO, expect Black-Hat SEOs to take full advantage of the re-launch of Real-Time Search. They will be extremely excited for the launch and look for quick ways to efficiently index content in Real-Time Search and at the top of results. In time Google will find effective methods to prevent this, but initially expect a surplus of spam search techniques within Real-Time results.

As for the honest White-Hat SEOs, this new partnership can be a great way to get your relevant content indexed and seen faster than ever. Once Real-Time Search goes into action SEOs and content writers should concentrate on creating unique content surrounding helpful tips, breaking news and important events. When looking to capitalize on Real-Time Search your team is going to need to be ready to create content on the fly. Content is going to need to be written and optimized for semantic search fast in order to keep up with Real-Time Search and the urgency of the news world today. Many companies may need to revisit their Twitter strategies, making sure their social media, content and SEO teams are all working together in order get content ranking in this new fast passed search atmosphere.

Google & Twitter Gains From Re-Launching Real-Time Search

In addition to search benefits Google and Twitter are both set up for gains. With 288 million active Twitter users monthly, Twitter intends to reach even more people than ever before, 1 billion per month to be precise. The announcement of this partnership comes in the midst of a time when Twitter is looking for new ways to monetize its platform and stimulate user growth. The new Real-Time Search deal will provide the social network exposure to a huge number of new users and make its tweets more searchable online, thereby boosting its advertising revenue and user engagement with content. Twitter intends to focus on the “logged out” users that use Google Search.

As for Google, the partnership will allow Google to maintain its lead in the search and advertising market. The deal will also further improve the relevance of Google’s search results and provide users access to real-time appropriate content. An idea that fits perfectly into Google’s ever-evolving goal of providing the most relevant up-to-date content to users, which will be particularly useful during times of natural disaster, major accidents, breaking news, location-based results and more.

What else can we expect form the new Real-Time Search?

Both companies intend to monetize specific search terms.
Real-Time Search will open new ad display opportunities for both companies.
Having real-time results about any topic rolling with regular search results can be a great benefit to regular users as well as marketing professionals, journalists, and data analysts.
Real-Time Search will serve up results based on voice search, in an effort to align with the Hummingbird spoken search strategies.