Google/Twitter Partnership's Effects on Search Marketing

Sometime in the first half of 2015, Google will, once again, get complete access to Twitter's firehose, according to Bloomberg Business. Tweets generated by Twitter's 288 million worldwide tweeters will start appearing in Google's search results in real-time – immediately. As such, the renewed Google–Twitter partnership may make distinctions between search engine and social media optimization increasingly more opaque, if not obliterate the distinctions altogether.

Though uncertainty abounds about precisely how this partnership will unfold, it presages the need to rethink your search engine and your social media optimization strategies.

Twitter and other social media platforms always have been useful for indirectly driving SEO through influencer marketing. This process usually involves engaging industry influencers by integrating tweets or commentary with compelling and original content excerpts on social media platforms, which link back to the complete text posted on a company's blog or website. When the content is sufficiently informative, useful and authoritative, influencers are inclined to share the content with other people in their social network.

Despite its usefulness in driving website traffic, SEO and SMO were, heretofore, treated as separate domains with digital marketers, relegating social media optimization to the role of a side operation. As a side operation, many major companies find great success optimizing their social media campaigns to generate company or brand buzz, enhance their leadership reputations, get customer input/feedback and promote location-specific deals and special offers.

In contrast, digital marketing savants generally agree that the primary purpose of SEO is to improve search engine results page ranking – SERP. As the theory goes, an improved SERP increases website traffic, which results in increased sales. Of course, a high bounce rate can undermine the theory that increased website traffic translates into increased sales, but that's another story.

Eons ago in digital years, Google had complete access to Twitter's firehose and displayed Twitter tweets in real-time. That agreement expired in 2011 with both parties going in separate directions. However, Twitter maintained similar agreements with Yahoo and Bing. The renewed Google-Twitter partnership may be a game changer simply because Google dominates search engine usage with a near 68 percent market share as of January 2015, according to Search Engine Watch.

Industry pundits praise the renewed partnership as a win-win for both parties. Google gets access to much more content to index in the form of real-time tweets. Twitter gets the chance to monetize its logged-out tweeters by increasing the frequency tweeters visit the site.

With the integration of the search and social experience firmly solidified with the Google-Twitter partnership, the clear implication is that savvy digital marketers will follow suit. In the coming months, they will likely integrate their SEO and SMO strategies and executions beyond the symbiotic relationship that currently exits.

In reassessing your SEO and SMO strategies in the coming months, consider taking some steps that may be appropriate for your business to avoid coming up short in the race to integrate.

Maximize and optimize your Twitter engagement. If you don't tweet, start tweeting. If you do tweet, increase your frequency. Avoid inconsequential, garbage tweets. Stay strategic. The savants say Google likely will sift through garbage and index only optimized tweets. Create killer content people want to share with others. Use a headline or key phrase in your tweets, followed by a link to your content. Designate keywords with a hashtag – #, as in “#keyword.” Revisit your Twitter Profile to make sure it too is optimized with keywords and a branded profile image, which reflects your business identity and personality. Make influencer marketing an essential part of your Twitter strategy by identifying and cultivating online relationships with individuals who have influence over your target audience.

Search Optics Inc. is a leader in digital marketing solutions for the automotive industry. Search Optics' automotive SEO services include custom websites, search engine optimization, paid search and mobile solutions that generate leads which result in sales opportunities. Search Optics specializes in car dealer marketing and automotive SEO services.