Real-time search—a subset of search that's driven by the recency of social media and news, and its influence on search engine optimization—is growing. Google, Yahoo! and Bing all integrate social media into their search engine results pages.
According to Rob Garner, senior strategy director at iCrossing, a global digital marketing agency with headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz., real-time search connects to the distribution network concept that news organizations have prized for so long. It also works off the principle that engagement follows content that's timely and authoritative.
To take a page from publishers' playbooks and win at real-time search, Garner advises marketers to:
- Look at search-based data, find gaps in the information supply and then publish content that fits the market's need according to the ebb and flow of that need.
- Build up social networks for content distribution. Think community plus quantity plus consistency. Over time, Garner explains, you become known by the market (and thus the search engines) as being a top provider of information on certain subject matter.
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