There’s been some chatter since February that Google may add tweets to their search results. It’s a move that makes sense in line with Google delivering results from Wikipedia entries to display quick information or snagging sports scores.
Adding tweets to search results may provide the searcher with information they are looking for at a glance, bringing Google one step closer in its apparent quest to transition from a search engine to an answer engine.
Google and Twitter came through.
What does this mean for businesses?
There’s a new way to show up on the first page of Google search results, and it may be free. According to Google, tweets will show up in search results for certain hash tags, @ mentions and searches including the word ‘Twitter’ as well as for standard searches.
Note: Google is rolling this update out slowly, so don’t worry if you aren’t seeing tweets in your search results yet. They’re coming.
3 Tips to help enterprise-level businesses get tweets on Google
1) Tweet more about business and real time events
A lot of corporate Twitter accounts use the platform to share their office culture (Cinco de Mayo photos anyone?) and link to their own blog posts. That’s a fine way to keep an account active and get a few new followers here and there, but it’s not enough any more.
To get your tweets in Google results, you need to be sure you are tweeting about the latest industry news, inserting your brand into cultural moments and using relevant hash tags.
Let’s say you just took a new product to market: a robot that assembles IKEA furniture. That’s awesome! Spread the news on Twitter so next time I google, “IKEA furniture assembly” your tweet might show up. I may just buy your robot, or at least interact with your business.
Here’s a famous example if a company getting in on big cultural moment in a brilliant way:
2) Get More Followers (that care)
Marketing teams talk a lot about getting more followers, friends, likes and all the rest, but many businesses are lazy about making it happen. It’s okay. I get it. When a big trade show or new website launch is coming up, it can be hard to focus on social media.
Well, now is the time. Looking at Google’s historical trends, the algorithm cares a lot about trust and authority. Back in the link building days, Google cared a lot about how many sites pointed at yours and ranked yours accordingly. Now, a smarter Google cares about the quality of the sites pointing to your site. It’s reasonable to assume that Google will carry this same philosophy over to tweets.
Just like inbound links, the quality and amount of followers are likely to affect if tweets are posted. Twitter accounts with more followers that actively engage on Twitter and online in general are likely to be favored by Google.
If you have been lazy about adding Twitter buttons to your website, blog or email signatures, it’s time to get on that task. Make it easy for people to follow you and then…
3) Engage Fully
Twitter just got more important for businesses than ever. It’s time to really use it. If you see something relevant to your business (maybe even from a competitor), get involved in the conversation.
If a tweet appears in search results, people are likely to click on it. If they do, they are likely to check out what comments other accounts post in replies to the tweet. Be sure you’re showing up in those replies, and be sure your replies are valuable. People that are interested in the topic and your opinion may be your next customers, and this may be the first time they find you online.
Don’t spam accounts with a lot of meaningless replies just to get involved. Always maintain your brand’s value.
Breakdown:
- Get involved. More.
- Build your Twitter family.
- Post, share and engage with valuable and popular tweets.
- Always remember there is a person on the other end of every search.
As we learn more about how Google ranks tweets, we will keep you in the loop. Subscribe to our blog if you want to receive the latest news.
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