Google Search, Plus Your World and SEO

Yesterday, it was announced by the search engine giant that they were to integrate content from their social media site, Google+ to their search results pages, or SERPS. This latest change consists of three new features which are:

1.Personal Results – results which enable you to find information just for you, including Google+ photos and posts – both your own and those shared specifically with you, that only you will be able to see on your results page:

2.Profiles in Search – both autocomplete and results, which enable you to immediately find people you're close to or might be interested in following.

3.People and Pages, which help you find people profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest, and enable you to follow them with just a few clicks.While Google insists that these changes are part of their ongoing attempts to make their SERPS more relevant to people and their relationships, because as they state on the official Google Blog “...behind most every query is a community.”

Their decision to make these changes has not been a popular one, and competitors, commentators and users were quick to point out that this move was  unfair, as it meant that Google would only be listing information from Google+ posts and also brought up issues of privacy as Google would be using the SERPS to suggest to users which potential Google+ users to follow.

One of Search, plus Your World's harshest critics so far is Twitter, who released a statement within hours of Google's original announcement stating that: “As we’ve seen time and time again, news breaks first on Twitter. As a result, Twitter accounts and Tweets are often the most relevant (search) results. We’re concerned that as a result of Google’s changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that’s bad for people, publishers, news organizations and Twitter users.”However, Google were very quick to respond with a post on Google+:“

We are a bit surprised by Twitter’s comments about Search plus Your World, because they chose not to renew their agreement with us last summer, and since then we have observed their rel=nofollow instructions.”

But while Google and Twitter exchange a very public war of words, with Twitter's Alex Macgillivary branding yesterday's announcement a “Bad day for the internet.” Some of the leading figures in the online industry, including those that work in SEO, social media and search are understandably split on what these changes will mean for the online industry. While some have spoken positively about the latest change to Google's SERPS, and others have been quite neutral, SEOs have been more welcoming to the proposal. With Jimmy McCann, of Search laboratory saying he felt that it “...makes user experience a bit better, and for SEO I don't think it will harm organic CTRs on commercial terms. I think it will only affect about 20% (max) of search queries.”

Meanwhile some critics have said that Search, Plus Your World will be biased towards Google's own social results, and therefore make it the most popular social network, the company is denying this, and Google Executive Chairman Eric Shimdt has been quoted as saying:“Google+ content is not being favored over Twitter and Facebook by Google’s search engine. Rather, those companies can be treated the same if they grant Google the right permissions to access their content.”

So what next for SEO in this world of social search? Only time will tell, but right now, SEOs had better get familiar with Google+ - if they haven't already.