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NOW, Google search will feature more Facebook results than ever

Google announced via Twitter this week that public status updates from Facebook are now included in the search engine's real-time search feature. This means that Facebook, one of the most used social networking site in the world, will get a special mention in Google's real-time search alongside Twitter, MySpace, and others. These real-time results will feature prominently on the first page of search results for the hottest queries.

'Your Facebook Status Updates will now feature in real-time Google Search', Google announced via Twitter

Apparently, only updates from Facebook PAGES are indexed. These include links, status updates, photos, videos shared by page owners, etc but will not feature comments made by the fans. This seems to indicate that brands should be getting a good amount of exposure for Facebook appearances in Google's real-time search results, and possibly in the real-time search results in general (due to Facebook's huge user-base). Right now, Facebook isn't dominating the results, but that is bound to change with it being the largest (by far) social network on the web.

A lot of brands who don't have Facebook pages in place are likely going to consider this a new reason to create one. Here are some tips for making a good one and promoting it. This should also lead to Facebook Pages getting more fans due to the increased exposure. Beware, however, that running a promotion on your Facebook Page may cost you ten thousand dollars because Facebook's policy guidelines clearly indicate that you must get prior written approval from a Facebook account rep and in order to get one of those, you must spend that much in advertising.

To sum up, Google's real-time search results now include Facebook, MySpace, Twiter, Google Buzz, FriendFeed, Jaiku, Identi.ca, TwitArmy, Google News links, Google Blog Search links, new web pages, and freshly updated pages. At this point, Google generally only shows the real-time results for new and popular topics.

Note: At the Online Marketing Summit in San Diego, WebProNews talked about a different kind of real-time search that involves local businesses, with RateItAll president Lawrence Coburn. It's not a local search as you would traditionally think of it, but it involves location, which one might consider a new kind of query.

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