Google just announced that its social search results will now include public Google Plus posts. Since the expiration of Google’s realtime search agreement with Twitter last month, it hasn’t been clear how Google will continue to integrate posts from social networks into search results. Now that Google’s in-house social network will provide a stream of content, Google can try to build out its social search out from there.
For users logged into their Google Accounts, searches will now display public Google Plus posts from people in their circles as search results, right alongside web pages. If it’s a link, for example, that link will show up like any other Web result would, but the person who posted it will be displayed underneath it, along with the date of the post.
Google launched social search in 2009 as a way of adding personalization to search results. Facebook’s partnership with Bing puts a big squeeze on Google’s ability to provide the most personalized results. But in response, Google has begun to roll out social search worldwide, along with its +1 button for voting up content, and the integration of Google Plus posts will now begin to bring your friends’ names and faces into your search results, all using data controlled by the search giant.
Do you think this will improve your search experience? Let us know in the comments.
