How Is Google Real Time Search Going to Influence Natural SEO?

If you haven’t heard yet, Google has launched “real-time” search.

What does this mean for natural search engine optimization?

Will the SEO consultants who know how to do on-site and off-site SEO be “penalized” by this new functionality?

Or will SEO’s adapt, use social media more effectively (they should be doing this anyway), and give their sites even BETTER placement for multiple phrases in their industry.

According to one article I recently read at a wholesale dropshippers website,

Real time results are heavily weighted toward fresh content.  This means that your ranking on the SERPs could be much more volatile – you could be number 1 one minute, and number 6 a few minutes later.  How can you boost your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) by taking advantage of real time searching?”

Here’s what Google has to say about the change:

Now, immediately after conducting a search, you can see live updates from people on popular sites like Twitter and FriendFeed, as well as headlines from news and blog posts published just seconds before. When they are relevant, we’ll rank these latest results to show the freshest information right on the search results page.

What do SEO Consultants think?

Mashable had this to say about the Google Launch:

For some time, it’s been clear to us that search has been moving to real-time, but until now, Google was seemingly falling behind Twitter, and even perhaps Bing (who inked its own search deals with Twitter and Facebook earlier this year).

Now, with one sweeping stroke, Google has grabbed the lead in the real-time search space, and it appears that Facebook and Twitter have both conceded that they aren’t going to outbuild Google when it comes to search. These are significant strategic decisions for all of those involved that will dictate much of where these companies head in the years to come.

Webpronews said this:

If you have ever had a hard time finding a direct relationship between social media and search engine marketing, it doesn’t get any more direct than this.

Dave Snyder is optimistic:

From an SEO perspective, however, the move excited me. It opens up a whole new world for savvy SEOs looking to compete in the always profitable business of trending search terms.

The first thing that came to mind when I saw the real time search data pouring through was that Google is getting a massive amount of real time link data without the issue of a crawl. I am convinced they will be utilizing this data to help shape SERPs for terms that are trending or based on timeliness.

What I Think

• SEO and SMO Become Duel Threats: if you haven’t been using Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks, you better “jump on the bandwagon” or you’re going to get passed up by the little guys. I laugh at the “big companies” that aren’t willing to invest the time or money (or both) to protect their name, brand and potential new business because they think “…there’s no real ROI with social media marketing…” Well big boys, small to medium sized businesses now have the potential to take your business little by little.
• Google Always Does Things Better: Dave Synder mentioned the fact that the new real-time search will definitely encourage some to Spam, Spam, Spam. He states, “Seriously, any new feature that Google rolls out is a playground for SPAM…” I agree. He adds, “Some people might ask the importance of coming up for a mere moment in that position, but the sheer amount of traffic generated for a trending term can make even a 30 second window profitable.”PC World noted “…unlike Bing, not every search term you enter into Google will trigger the real-time feature. Google’s approach makes sense, to a certain extent, since there may not be much real-time relevance to a search for a particular celebrity or historical figures on most days. But then again, sometimes people post interesting information such as quotes from the likes of Mark Twain or Winston Churchill, quirky facts about history, and other information that may be interesting to discover. Unlike Google, you are guaranteed to find more real-time results on wider range of topics on Bing; whether those search results have any value is left for you to decide.”

I feel strongly that Google won’t be TOUCHED when it comes to search, both natural SEO and real-time. Bing is working hard but I don’t think they will prevail. Time will tell how search users adapt (or if they adapt at all) to real time search.

What are your thoughts on real-time search?