Google has recently added social search to its ever expanding list of Google labs experiments, and this is good news for on-line businesses that are interested in niche marketing.
For those who are familiar with, and rely upon, search engine optimization strategies, social search will come as a welcome addition to your SEO toolkit.
Search engine optimization was once defined by paid and organic search parameters. However, as the Internet has evolved, newer search platforms have become crucial Internet marketing tools. These tools include familiar properties such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites.
Here are but two examples of how newer search platforms are making their presence felt.
Surprising to some, YouTube is currently ranked as the number two search engine on the Internet. The sheer volume of videos served up each month by YouTube accounts for this high ranking.
In addition, both Google and Bing recently announced that they will be indexing - and thus displaying in search results - Twitter posts (tweets), leading many online business owners to rush towards having a comprehensive "Twitter plan" in place as soon as possible.
It is because of the emergence, and prominence, of these newer search platforms, that "social search" is being developed. Indeed, these recent developments have many 'Net watchers speculating about whether social networking will be the next big thing in online niche marketing.
That brings us back to Google and their latest experiment.
At the Web 2.0 Summit (2009) Marissa Mayer announced latest experimental feature offered by Google, noting that it is aimed at improving the user's search results by including web pages created by that user's social connections.
This is how Marissa Mayer describes this new experimental lab:
"Due to the ever-increasing popularity of social networks, we've been thinking about how your social network could influence and improve your search results. Social Search does just that by surfacing content in your search results that is written by your friends or people you follow. That way, you get the best resources from the web overall, plus the best results (blogs, reviews, travelogues) that are relevant to you, since they were written by people you know. Social Search will be launching soon on Google Experimental and Google Labs."
In short, social search is all about creating greater relevancy to the individual user who is conducting a search through Google.
That's great for the individual user. But, what about the online marketer who is trying to gain a better foothold in his or her niche? Well, this new feature could prove to be a boom for the savvy niche marketer that is already mining the online social networks.
Business owners who have established followings on Facebook, Friend Feed, Twitter, YouTube, and similar sites will now be able to search targeted key phrases on Google and monitor the buzz (or lack thereof) surrounding their company and/or products. Trend spotters will be able to identify emerging trends to capitalize upon, or potential problems that need quick remedies.
Just think what this means to the online niche marketer: real-time, direct access to the thoughts, posts, and musings of those in your social (and for the smart marketer, that can be read as "business") networks.
So how does the feature currently work? Let me state right off the top that, due to issues relating to privacy, social search is set-up as an opt-in feature, and is directly connected through Google Profiles and Gmail. So, to participate, you'll first need a Google account.
After you've set up your account, you add links from your Twitter, Friend Feed, and similar pages, to your Google profile. Google will then explore those links to identify your followers and the content they produce; content derived from their blogs, photo albums, videos, and reviews.
Then, the next time you are searching at Google, if your search query returns useful results from your social connections, Google will display the results at the bottom of the search results pages.
To see how this feature works, log into your Google account, and then type your query at Google.com. If you don't see a OneBox at the bottom of the search results pages, click on "Search Options" and select "Social" to include the results to your social circle.
Now, you may be wondering just who is included in this new social network. A Google help center page tells us that the network includes:
• people you are connected to through social services (such as Twitter or Friend Feed)
• people that you have listed in your Google profile
• people in your Gmail (or Google Talk) chat list
• People in your Friends, Family, and Coworkers contact groups for Google
In addition, Google Reader subscriptions can be added, so it is now easier to search Google Reader.
Remember, these connections are on an opt-in basis, and you can include, or exclude, any group or social service that you wish. If you do not opt-in, your social networks will not be included, and you will not see their content in your search results.
So, have a look at this new experimental feature. Get good at using it, because it is likely that your competitors will as well.
About the Author
Scott Spooner is an Internet Marketing Consultant in the Los Angeles area who specializes in the areas of Strategic Internet Marketing, Niche Market Research, Traffic Building Strategies, and Sales Conversion. Scott publishes The Niche Marketing Blog where he discusses the topics, resources, and tools available for niche marketing, market segmentation, and market research. To learn more, visit The Niche Marketing Blog
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