As search and social become ever more entwined in Google’s and Bing’s algorithms and search results, search engine optimizers cannot afford to turn a blind eye to social media. Bing incorporates Facebook data into its search results. Google has taken another big step with the introduction of Search, Plus Your World. Last week we explored the social media impact of Search, Plus Your World, in “Google Integrates Google+ in Search Results.” In this article, I’ll focus on the search-engine-optimization impact of this new feature.

Visibility in Search Results

The biggest impact SPYW has on SEO is the visual and personal nature of the results it returns. Compare these two search result sets for a very common search phrase: “shoes.”

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On the left is the typical Google search result set with a couple of high ranking brands, some local results and image results. On the right is my SPYW result set, made up entirely of what my circle of friends shared on Google+. It contains everything from a fabulously geeky post about modifying shoes with Android to a gleeful post about shopping for shoes to wear to a summer wedding.

The SPYW results are far more visually appealing, with the many images and mug shots of faces I’ll recognize because they’re in my Google+ Circles. It’s also much more entertaining than the straight result set because it’s full of opinions and some just weird stuff. So if I’m in the mood to be entertained and see what people I know think about a topic, SPYW is great.

But what if I want to buy shoes for my wedding in four months? This SPYW result set is not in the least bit useful to me. Even if I narrow my search query to “ivory wedge wedding shoes,” the SPYW results are still not

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Article source: http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/3339-SEO-Impact-of-Google-s-Search-Plus-Your-World