Yesterday, January 10 2012, Google formally announced 3 new features to their search engine results page (SERP). These features show the increasing integration of the Google+ platform into every day search, and what I would call Silent evolution of the Google Search platform.
With the launch of Google+ it really was only a matter of time before Google found ways to integrate their own social network over the results of others (like Facebook and Twitter). Some of the first steps of this integration were officially launched yesterday by Google on their site Inside Google Search.
The first feature, “Search plus your world”, tauts “Search has always brought you information from across the web. Now, search gets better by including photos, posts, and more from you and your friends. ” To get this to work you need to create a Google+ Account, login to Google with that account. Then you will instantaneously begin to see content produced by, linked to, +’ed, shared, etc from your Google contacts. It also helps if you link other accounts (like Facebook, and Twitter) to your account as well.
You can now also find “Profiles” in search. This feature shows Google+ Profiles and information (all controlled by the users) within the search results. It also claims to bring back other related profiles (connected to the account) and allows you to “Add to Circles”, which is Google’s concept of a Facebook Friend Request, right from the SERP.
The final of the first wave is the “Related People and Pages” aspect of the new SERP. This brings people and pages from Google+ that are “similar” to what you like, talk about etc. This one I haven’t really seen in action (apparently my friends don’t like what I do or what I search for) but in my own opinion it could be kind of interesting. As Google claims: “Fill out your profile, Post about your favorite Topics, Appear in search results”
So there you have it. A quick summary of the recent changes to the Google Search Engine Results page.
Heck… add CarlowSEO to your circle’s and lets see how it all works!