Google was never one to turn a deaf ear to complaints. Proof of this point is the “Latest Results” feature which was recently rolled out. This feature makes it possible to get content in Google as it happens instead of waiting for it to be indexed.
Latest Results Feature Popping up in SERPs
This update is surprisingly easy to miss. Not only does it only pop up with terms which have a fair amount of buzz surrounding them, but Google did a great job of making it fit in seamlessly with the other results.
The Latest Results section takes up about as much space as two normal results, and constantly updates with Tweets, blog posts, and articles about your search term. This is obviously designed to address the bad press Google received for being “slow” to index information about Michael Jackson’s passing.
It’s a nice feature, but it probably won’t be drawing many users away from Twitter clients or Digg. What it might do is draw in more casual web users into real-time news services.
It’s not 100% clear how these results are chosen or filtered. It seems that there has to be something in place to keep people turning the clock back to 1995 by name dropping whoever is a popular search and proceeding to talk about your product.
Many people are wondering if it is it possible to perform SEO for these results. The best way to get noticed in these results is the same way to get noticed in other Social Media venues. Provide your followers with consistent and useful updates.
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