SEO / SEM Blog by Search Circus

You may have noticed that last month, Google quietly unrolled an option on their search results page that lets users see results from the last 24 hours, the last week, the last month, or within a timeframe of the users’ choosing. We say quiet, but the buzz around real-time search has been anything but. For anyone who wants to gain traffic via natural search optimization in 2010, real-time search is going to have to be at the top of their to do list.

Why? Because real-time search results incorporate results from some of the most popular Web2.0 applications and services, including Twitter, Facebook and FriendFeed. Real-time search also offers up to the minute results for breaking news.

That raises the question: can you use natural search optimization strategies to get top real-time search results in Google? Yes you can. While Google hasn’t yet given much information on how they organize and display real-time search results, there are some tried and true natural search optimization methods that should be considered when going after top real-time search results. Here’s what you need to know:

1. The text that’s in a blog post, a tweet or a Facebook update is important. Quality is measured. If a recent tweet looks like spam, then Google will pass over it.
2. It looks like Google tracks Twitter users who are frequently re-tweeted and bloggers who are linked to by many others. The more authority Google gives these users, the more likely their content will appear in real-time search results.
3. The quality of someone’s followers on Twitter or the authority of those who repost their blogs also count. This helps Google sift through spammers who have been able to repost their content elsewhere.

Of course this is all very new. Expect to see more information and natural search optimization tips as Google’s real-time search becomes more refined. Have you heard any other tips for getting listed in real-time search results? Let us know.