If you have been keeping tabs with your RSS feeds, you may already know that Google just launched its real time search service. This feature is Google’s response to the increasing relevance of social media in people’s search patterns.

Now, one of the questions about this development is – how does this apply to SEO now and in the future? The opinion on this issue is pretty scattered, with many others suggesting that real-time search will leave SEO irrelevant.

Or is it?

Real Time Search: Just Like Any Other Google Feature

First, we have to consider social search as an element that extends the usefulness of search engines. It is not meant to replace search engines or make traditional search less relevant. Instead, it merely enhances the product and the search experience that made Google so good in the first place. The same thing goes with image search, news search, and video search that we find in the front page. It is there to help us and not to turn SEO against us.

Social Media Pages Getting More Authority

We honestly do not know how much authority Google has given to these pages. You may guess that with this new tool, Google has somewhat increased their importance in their algorithm, but we do not know how much.

But this we know. Let us take Twitter as an example. A Twitter status update that gives you 140 characters max should not beat out a full-blown webpage in any way. Likewise, a company’s list of services cannot be expressed in a twitter page and status updates.

Google has always been about content relevance. So any effect on your SERPs is minimal, (just like how little image, video, or news search affect rankings). The fact that Google considers social updates as part of a different segment in their search results tells us that they are specialized and not wholly-integrated to general search.

Now, if your index page or main service page ranks worse than a mere Twitter update, then there is something seriously wrong with your page.

How about SERPs in the Front Page?

One of the concerns of many is that Real Time search is just another waste of space that organic search links won’t have on the top of the results. But as already discussed, social search is just an element of SEO, and even that section is placed on the top page, searchers know what they are looking for.  If searchers are browsing for a service, I think that they would rather scroll down for real webpages rather than waste their time on social media status updates.

So Is Social Media – Real Time Search Irrelevant?

Absolutely not! Social media matters not because Google said so, but because it is part of the evolution of the internet. And since we are part of the industry, we should understand that and ride the bandwagon. It is the same thing when we were getting into SEO seven years before.  Certainly, a Twitter status message with a link to your main service page can only help your cause. So real time search is definitely not an enemy in this equation.

Another factor is branding and online reputation. Social media platforms is a good way to express what potential customers “feel” rather than what they “know”,  so businesses have to monitor what people are talking about.

Additionally, “un-organic” links that are taking up space on the SERPs tells us that it is not only about getting ranked for a good keyword, but providing the most relevant content for the searchers, so that when we get down to the niche services (aka long tail), we are the one who are first in line for them.

The bottom-line is, even if all these are happening, SEO is still a requirement to all websites hoping to compete. Really, why build a website if you do not bother with SEO? Social Media is definitely not a reason for clients to skip on SEO, in fact it gives us more reason to embrace SEO more.