How Google’s Real-Time Access To Tweets May Impact Your SEO

Find out how Google’s real-time access to Tweets may impact your SEO and what you can do about it.

A few years back, when you did a search you may have chanced upon a Tweet or two in your SERPs. Through a deal that was struck between the two, Google gained access to Twitter’s data stream and in return, these tweets would be displayed in search results in real time. But when the agreement expired in 2011, Google lost access to the little blue bird’s data stream. But today, the two giants are shaking on the deal yet again by indexing tweets as soon as they are posted. So should SEO mavericks pop open the bubbly or wring their hands in desperation? Here are a few ways that Google’s real-time access to Tweets may impact your SEO and what you can do about it.

What This Actually Means

Through this agreement, Google will have real-time access to tweets via a data feed, which is also known as the Twitter Firehose. It will take some prep time for this deal to come into effect, but when it does, prepare to see far more tweets in search results. This means that SEO mavericks may now be able to include Twitter in their SEO strategies and use the platform to increase their presence in Google’s SERPs.

How Google May Choose Which Tweets to Index

While there haven’t been any official statements yet as to what the plan of action is on Google’s part, given their track record, they may start with those tweets that are of most value to their audience. Be prepared for some pretty stringent anti-spam measures to be put in place as well, so fluff will not fly.

It seems like Google will be fairly conservative when it comes to their indexing efforts, and will only include the stuff they are sure aren’t spam. This points to the fact that it may be quite challenging for SEO marketers, especially in the beginning, to ace this system.

Google might keep its eye open for certain signs that point to valuable tweets. This could be on the lines of:

  • Third party web site links to a user’s profile
  • Third party web site links to the tweets itself
  • The amount of times a tweet is favorited and by whom
  • The amount of times a tweet is retweeted and by whom

How SEO Marketers Can Tweak Their Effort

All of the above information elaborates that maximizing one’s engagement on Twitter shows that the content you tweet is more valuable in nature and therefore should be indexed by Google. But how do SEO marketers do that?

The answer, surprisingly enough, is very simple. According to recent research, one of the most significant factors responsible for boosting retweets and favorites was the use of imagery in tweets. It was revealed that tweets with imagery could get five to nine times as many total retweets, which is quite a substantial figure.

Other ways to increase engagement, retweets and favorites are the use of hashtags and the implementation of longer tweets, but these didn’t show half as much value as including images.

Another tactic to employ is to develop relationships on Twitter, especially with influencers who will retweet your most important content, thereby making Google aware of what you have to say. When the influencer tweets with a link to your content, it may appear on SERPS and thus give you access to a larger audience. Basically, what SEO marketers need to do is increase the time and effort they spend on Twitter.

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