• “We use Twitter and Facebook links in ranking as we always have in our web search rankings, but in addition we’re also trying to figure out a little bit about the reputation of an author or creator on Twitter or Facebook,” (says Cutts). “I filmed a video back in May 2010 where I said that we didn’t use that as a signal, and at the time, we did not use that as a signal, but now, we’re taping this in December 2010, and we are using that as a signal.”

• The Google+ Project

   

  What about the product itself? Google dubs Google+ as a “project” rather than a product, stressing it’s part of making Google itself more social rather than being a standalone social network to take on Facebook.

• 1. Google Social Search

• Until now all of the social content in channels like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, hasn’t been easy to find in a central place – including through Google search.  Until now, that is.

   

  That’s where Google Social Search comes in. It’s still in the experimental stages, but this new feature combines users’ social connections with organic searches. For example, if you were to search for “New Zealand,” social search results would appear beneath the organic search results. The tool scans your social connections’ content (based on the social accounts included in your Google profile) to create these results.

• 3. Twitter and Facebook Feeds in Search Results

   

  Imagine the tweets highlighting your latest blog post or a new product launch getting found in organic searches. These days, that’s a reality.

   

  At the end of February, Google happily announced on Twitter that public status updates from Facebook fan pages would now be included in real-time search. Facebook joins a long list of other social content appearing in search results including:

   
   
  • Twitter tweets
   
  • FriendFeed updates
   
  • Google Buzz posts
   
  • MySpace updates
   
   

  Twitter and Facebook marketing efforts, then, take on new importance and new meaning. It’s now essential that all social content be optimized just as other online content is optimized.

• 4. Google’s Social Acquisitions

   

  Still not convinced that Google’s sights are set on social? Just check out the list of its acquisitions over the last nine years, and count the social platforms.

   

  In terms of sites owned by Google, the search giant has the gamut covered:

   
   
  • Video Sharing: YouTube
   
  • Blogging Tool: Blogger.com
   
  • Wiki: Knol
   
  • Social Networking: Orkut
   
  • Image Sharing: Picasa
   
  • Social Search: Aardvark

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• Tweets As Surrogates For Facebook Likes

   

  For whatever reason, Google’s search results continue to lack Facebook Like, giving Bing an advantage on that front — though not one that’s proven to attract new searchers to Bing in any great numbers.

   

  In lieu of Facebook Likes, Google’s clearly moving ahead in a different direction, using sharing that happens at a variety of other non-Facebook services as a form of Facebook Likes. In particular, Twitter stands out. What people tweet has turned into an easy way for Google to get “Like” data into its search results — “Twitter Likes,” that is.

• <!-- end header -->      October 7, 2011     Google Uses Social Media Signals for Rankings: Does this Include Youtube?        A recent video from Google expert Matt Cutts suggests that Google is now using signals from social media such as twitter and facebook to help them figure out what sites should rank well in the search engines. This should not come as a surprise to anyone who cares about getting their site found on search engines. Basically, this is just a confirmation that the more involved you are on the Internet in general, the more you as an author and your company build reputation. The reputation you build as a whole ultimately will fill in how google and other search engines rank your content.

• Google to index Facebook comments

     

   Search engine Google now indexes public comments made on websites that use   Facebook, Disqus and other add-ons.

• By   Matt Warman, Consumer Technology Editor

     

   

  6:19PM GMT 01 Nov 2011

• The move means that all comments on any publicly visible website could show up   in Google search   results. Previously, search engines were unable to read comments because Facebook,   Disqus and Intense Debate used programming that was not easy to read   automatically. 

   

   This meant that comments could play any part in a website’s search ranking.   Now, however, the web tools that Google uses to trawl the web and index   content are able to read comments that have been made using Facebook’s   Connect add-in for other websites, as well as other equivalent services. 

   

   Some website owners have declined to use add-ons for comments that do not help   their search rankings, but as Facebook has become a more popular tool for   interaction outside Facebook.com itself, Google has effectively been   ignoring a growing part of the web. 

   

   The update means links featured in comments will also enhance websites’   standing. 

   

   Although comments are not likely to immediately appear high up search results,   specific searches for them will bring them up.

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