Will Google’s new social search experiment give rise to SSO: Social Search Optimization
A few years ago Rohit Bhargava started a meme about Social Media Optimization. He described it as:
The concept behind SMO is simple: implement changes to optimize a site so that it is more easily linked to, more highly visible in social media searches on custom search engines (such as Technorati), and more frequently included in relevant posts on blogs, podcasts and vlogs.
While it inspired dozens and dozens of trackback stories, including a write up by the high-profile SEO guru Danny Sulllivan; the meme essentially died. It died because the practice wasn’t based on reverse engineering an algorithm. It was fuzzy concepts on social engineering to behave in such a way as to attract links. Social link baiting, if you will.
Flash forward to present day and Bing announces Twitter search capabilities. Shortly after the news spikes, Google says “Me too!” But, then a quiet trump card emerges when Google softly announces a more comprehensive search effort for all of social media.
Ah, now there’s an algorithm! And it’s search. Assuming Google’s search experiment pans out, we’ll see a new generation of algo crackers building up the best practices for Social Search Optimization. One major difference between SEO and SSO will be the social ecosystem that the content lives in. It will be interesting to see the reaction to the SSO practices, especially the critiques.
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5 Comments
2009-10-22
09:33:24
Nice. Looks like people with big tribes win. I'm off to experiment with that opt-in service for integrating social media & search. Crazy stuff.
2009-10-22
10:08:31
I smell a whole new breed of spam-bots and cheap tricks to get to the top of this new kind of ranking. I predict content will still be king when the dust settles.
2009-10-22
16:54:21
Cory, it will be interesting to see the metrics and how they weight them in their algorithm. It will also be interesting to think about the real-world implications of how our relationships will change as people pursue SSO.
Robin, if there is an algo, you can bet your sweet bippy that someone will try to exploit it ;) SSO spam will be the new craze I'm sure.
2009-10-23
07:58:58
Jeremiah Owyang implied that Google will have their own Twitalyzer algorithm that decides who influences SERP's. Personally, I am stunned at the amount of computing power that will take, not to mention the PhD juice that it will take to figure that algorithm out.
People who don't work in this industry are about to get really, really creeped out.
2009-10-26
14:44:34
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