It is amazing how many clients I still speak to that don’t want to broach Social Media, find it scary or don’t think it’s relevant for their business. However, most still want to be active in employing a Search Engine Optimisation campaign. The two really should go hand in hand!

Search engines can’t afford not to take notice of social media and the impact it has had on internet use. Facebook alone has over half a billion users. You Tube itself is the second largest search engine and there are roughly 50 million tweets a day. These are huge figures that represent huge amounts of information and a huge impact on search.

The introduction of Google real-time is proof that social media content is being taken seriously in search. It is not only content that can appear in real-time results on the search engine results page. Profiles themselves can be picked up so putting keywords in your profile name could be an excellent way to pick up rankings and traffic.

It doesn’t stop there though. Reputation management is something that should concern all brand managers, and use of social networking sites can really help. Profiles on these sites, especially Facebook and Twitter, do tend to rank well for brand name and can therefore take up room in the SERPs when users search on a company name. Not only can they do well in rankings, if you are active on the account then they can drive traffic & potentially sales up.

Social media can also be used for keyword research. Just looking at what your customers, competitors and industry are talking about can be a great source of ideas when looking for keywords or phrases.

And there are still more reasons why everyone should be looking to engage in social media. Your SEO can really benefit from social sites providing a channel for building links back into your website. To really optimise your social media link building make sure you use keywords in your tweets and when using a URL shortener try and put your keywords in there too. And remember you can import your blog to your social profiles so that when you post it automatically transfers to your profiles. Remember as well, to add keywords to any pictures or videos that you upload and share.

So, there are loads of great reasons to get active on social media sites. There really isn’t any reason why your brand and business can’t make the most of it and integrate it into your SEO campaigns.

Google Instant is the new search update that supplies a page of results as you type your query. Since its launch a couple of weeks ago, debate and speculation over what the new technology will mean has run wild.

It is a massive change that is definitely going to take some getting used to – and I’m sure the success and consequences of it won’t be known for quite a while. As it stands GI is only available in a select number of countries (US and UK among them) and you have to be logged into a Google account for it to work. Not only that but you can turn it off – and a lot of people have already reported that that is exactly what they have done.

But what do marketers need to know about Google Instant now?

The main feature of GI is speed. Streaming results are presented without the user having to press ‘enter’ meaning the user may find things more quickly. GI also offers predictions of what you are searching for as you type.

Google say that there has been no change to the algorithm for AdWords and so the initial affect of GI on paid search will be focused on impressions. The number of impressions could soar as ads appear while the user is typing. Google say impressions will only count if a selection is made from that page of suggestions, if the user hits ‘enter’ or if the page is left inactive for at least 3 seconds.

As for search there have been lots of suggestions on how it will affect SEO and search queries. Sites that rank well for broad and long tail terms are likely to see a spike in impressions as search results are narrowed while the user types. Crucially GI will pass the search term referrer as the full predicted keyword, even if the result is clicked on with a partially spelt out phrase.

Another development to keep an eye on is the predictive results and how they can be personalized. The big brands do seem like they will get more exposure as their sites appear at the start of most searches and suggestions after typing a couple of letters seems to back this up. There is also the question of localisation of search, for example if you type w for weather the streamed results you get are local. Will this expand for all searches…?

Loads of things to think about and already many people have aired their ideas of where they think this will lead. Does it mean a bigger opportunity for marketing on mobile devices as users tend to be logged in to their accounts? Will streaming results mean account managers for paid search will have to target broader search terms as well as long tail queries? Does this mean localised search results, paving the way for demographic based personalisation, as Google holds all the information to make it happen?

One thing is for sure, Google has a driving force that will not let it stand still, which makes it a sometimes worrying, but always exciting, playing field for marketers.