Google adds shared by number to Google news results
Google seems to be experimenting with adding a "Shared by [number]" stat next to Google News results - so you can see how popular each story is on Twitter etc. Here's a screenshot - you can see "Shared by 5+" next to the news source:
Google News box showing "number of shares" for a news story
I'm seeing this even though I'm not logged in to my Google account. The people who shared it aren't people I follow on Twitter (not that Google should know this). And I see it only on the news box on the main web search results page. If I click to see all news results, the link disappears. And I can't get it to appear for any other news stories right now!
Have you seen it? What do you think - seems quite a good way to differentiate news stories to me. (And this is different to the ability to integrate your Twitter account with Google News)
Update There's thing thing as well now - with links to recent social media updates under the news box:
Another news experiment
Thanks to Greg Power for that second spot.
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Google knows a seriously scary amount about you - http://www.google.com/s2/u/0/search/social#socialcircle via @GuavaMarkeD I was actually alarmed by this as it had connections it really shouldn't have known about .. more info is here - https://www.google.com/dashboard/?pli=1
I am sure today Google is not evil, just money hungry and corporate, answering to share holders, but it worries me that much information...
Would make perfect sense for 'shares' to become part of the rank of results, particularly with time sensitive content such as news where shares over time could become a ranking factor.
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Thanks for the post, I came here from Barry's coverage at searchengineland. Looks like 'proper' social integration in Google SERPs will be with us soon. I expect this to one day become a ranking factor and very important to SEO so I am always on the look out for this type of news.
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