Last February, tech giants Twitter and Google announced that they had come to an arrangement that meant tweets would soon be indexed in Google search results.
Now the feature has gone live, but only for desktop searches.
Soft launch
The news was announced quietly via Twitter and follows on from the original statement that came via a Google blogpost.
In that press release, Senior Product Manager at Google Ardan Arac wrote that “we’re bringing Tweets to Google Search on mobile devices. So now when you’re searching on the Google app or any browser on your phone or tablet, you can find real-time content from Twitter right in the search results.”
The post went on: “To start, we’re launching this on Google.com in English in the Google app (on Android and iOS) and on mobile browsers, rolling out gradually. We’re working on bringing it to more languages and to desktop, so stay tuned.”
Desktop
The news that the roll-out has in fact launched on desktop searches will be of great interest to any SEO campaigns that make use of Twitter as part of their custom news feeds.
However, it has caused some confusion as the original announcement focused mainly in relation to searches conducted using the Google app, with desktop searches to follow on later.
As mobile internet use in general is such a growing force that needs to be taken into account in any online strategy, it seems strange that Google has brought the feature to desktop search first.
In action
Google described the way the feature works in the original blog post by writing: “It’s a great way to get real-time info when something is happening. And it’s another way for organisations and people on Twitter to reach a global audience at the most relevant moments.”
Essentially, when you search for a brand or public figure, you will now see a stream of their latest tweets embedded in the search results.
Although the feature is now live on desktop searches, there is still no firm date for the roll-out to extend to mobile.
