Comments on: Is Google using signals from Twitter for its rankings? http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/google-signals-twitter/ Where to find Malcolm Coles, reviews, and tips on how to do things I couldn't do. Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:22:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Hobo http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/google-signals-twitter/#comment-5747 Hobo Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:51:07 +0000 http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/?p=3189#comment-5747 I've been surmising something similar of late. If folks are using twitter to spread links, surely Google would want to be looking at these links now or in the future. I've been surmising something similar of late. If folks are using twitter to spread links, surely Google would want to be looking at these links now or in the future.

]]> By: jaamit http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/google-signals-twitter/#comment-5734 jaamit Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:51:32 +0000 http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/?p=3189#comment-5734 incidentally have you looked at Bing Twitter search? The fact that it shows you "Top Links Shared In Tweets About [XYZ]" shows they ARE following, indexing and ranking links within tweets. Would be pretty dumb not to pull these into main results for QDF terms. incidentally have you looked at Bing Twitter search? The fact that it shows you "Top Links Shared In Tweets About [XYZ]" shows they ARE following, indexing and ranking links within tweets. Would be pretty dumb not to pull these into main results for QDF terms.

]]> By: Twitter in Google & Bing – a New Reputation Management Headache? | SwerveBlog http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/google-signals-twitter/#comment-5724 Twitter in Google & Bing – a New Reputation Management Headache? | SwerveBlog Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:01:01 +0000 http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/?p=3189#comment-5724 [...] clear starting point for real time social metrics to be part of web ranking (although there is some anecdotal evidence to show Twitter might already have some influence)? Will this change how Google works with all the [...] [...] clear starting point for real time social metrics to be part of web ranking (although there is some anecdotal evidence to show Twitter might already have some influence)? Will this change how Google works with all the [...]

]]> By: dan barker http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/google-signals-twitter/#comment-5723 dan barker Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:04:13 +0000 http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/?p=3189#comment-5723 hi, Malcolm, you may have noticed the twitter web interface uses Google Analytics. So from a purely technical point of view... (ie. ignoring any agreements not to look)... they've had the actual data for a long time to be able to do this. dan hi, Malcolm, you may have noticed the twitter web interface uses Google Analytics. So from a purely technical point of view... (ie. ignoring any agreements not to look)... they've had the actual data for a long time to be able to do this.

dan

]]> By: jaamit http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/google-signals-twitter/#comment-5721 jaamit Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:18:22 +0000 http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/?p=3189#comment-5721 This is a really interesting question Malcolm - it came up at the #ProSEO seminar this week - Rand Fishkin reckons from anecdotal evidence there is definitely a rankings boost for links that have been retweeted a lot. Also Will Critchlow wrote this excellent post about <a href="http://www.seomoz.org/blog/nofollow-is-dying-the-impact-of-microblogging-and-nofollow-on-seo" rel="nofollow">Google using editorial nofollow links</a> a while back which I would strongly recommend reading. Yes, it's really difficult to test with any degree of certainty because a natural 'hot tweet' will also generate other indicators such as fresh links, traffic (if you believe Google takes usage data as a ranking factor) and a sudden spike in search volume. But in these cases IMO you have to 'think like a search engine' and speculate a little. Google's link algo is all about detecting editorial votes for a page. Nofollow or not, lots of retweets with the same link is one of the strongest editorial vote signals you can get on the web. Frankly Google would be crazy NOT to regard this. I think their news today of the deal with Twitter only confirms that they want to use tweets more in ranking fresh content. So even if they arent using it now, there's no doubt they will be soon. This is a really interesting question Malcolm - it came up at the #ProSEO seminar this week - Rand Fishkin reckons from anecdotal evidence there is definitely a rankings boost for links that have been retweeted a lot. Also Will Critchlow wrote this excellent post about Google using editorial nofollow links a while back which I would strongly recommend reading.

Yes, it's really difficult to test with any degree of certainty because a natural 'hot tweet' will also generate other indicators such as fresh links, traffic (if you believe Google takes usage data as a ranking factor) and a sudden spike in search volume.

But in these cases IMO you have to 'think like a search engine' and speculate a little. Google's link algo is all about detecting editorial votes for a page. Nofollow or not, lots of retweets with the same link is one of the strongest editorial vote signals you can get on the web. Frankly Google would be crazy NOT to regard this. I think their news today of the deal with Twitter only confirms that they want to use tweets more in ranking fresh content. So even if they arent using it now, there's no doubt they will be soon.

]]> By: malcolm coles http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/google-signals-twitter/#comment-5720 malcolm coles Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:02:23 +0000 http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/?p=3189#comment-5720 Mark - yes, it's common for new blogs posts to get mixed in the top 10 for big news stories. And it could have just been an oddity. The interesting thing for me was that for a search on [jan muir], the posts were treated so differently despite their titles beginning jan muir - which is normally a pretty good way to do well in google for a given search term. Who knows though! Mark - yes, it's common for new blogs posts to get mixed in the top 10 for big news stories. And it could have just been an oddity.

The interesting thing for me was that for a search on [jan muir], the posts were treated so differently despite their titles beginning jan muir - which is normally a pretty good way to do well in google for a given search term. Who knows though!

]]> By: Mark Pack http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/google-signals-twitter/#comment-5719 Mark Pack Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:55:08 +0000 http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/?p=3189#comment-5719 Circumstantial evidence looks striking, but ... I've had posts appear surprisingly high up in Google rankings (including a blog post about the death of Baby P topping Google search results for a long time - despite all the big media attention) and in those cases tweets wouldn't have been the explanation. So this may just be another of those odd cases? Circumstantial evidence looks striking, but ... I've had posts appear surprisingly high up in Google rankings (including a blog post about the death of Baby P topping Google search results for a long time - despite all the big media attention) and in those cases tweets wouldn't have been the explanation. So this may just be another of those odd cases?

]]> By: Jonathan Stewart http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/google-signals-twitter/#comment-5714 Jonathan Stewart Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:07:17 +0000 http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/?p=3189#comment-5714 I reckon they could do. Maybe you just had 1 or 2 links at that time, but that was enough to establish you as an authority, and hence why you ranked. I'm seeing evidence of Google analysing this kind of stuff much quicker than ever before, so I don't see why they couldn't do some on the fly link analysis for hot topics. I reckon they could do. Maybe you just had 1 or 2 links at that time, but that was enough to establish you as an authority, and hence why you ranked. I'm seeing evidence of Google analysing this kind of stuff much quicker than ever before, so I don't see why they couldn't do some on the fly link analysis for hot topics.

]]> By: Malcolm Coles http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/google-signals-twitter/#comment-5710 Malcolm Coles Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:11:38 +0000 http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/?p=3189#comment-5710 Sure, could be. -But within an hour (possibly much quicker, I only checked after an hour) the 2nd one was in the top 10. Can people have written sufficient posts that quickly (many of those links were in posts written over the weekend) and had them indexed by Google - and could Google have crunched the numbers that quickly? Sure, could be. -But within an hour (possibly much quicker, I only checked after an hour) the 2nd one was in the top 10. Can people have written sufficient posts that quickly (many of those links were in posts written over the weekend) and had them indexed by Google - and could Google have crunched the numbers that quickly?

]]> By: Jonathan Stewart http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/google-signals-twitter/#comment-5709 Jonathan Stewart Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:05:07 +0000 http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/?p=3189#comment-5709 Couldn't it just be link related? That second post generated 37 links vs 6 links for the first post (according to Yahoo). Say QDF triggers a part of the algo that requires on the fly link analysis to determine which articles on a "hot topic" are currently the most popular - that may make sense? Couldn't it just be link related? That second post generated 37 links vs 6 links for the first post (according to Yahoo). Say QDF triggers a part of the algo that requires on the fly link analysis to determine which articles on a "hot topic" are currently the most popular - that may make sense?

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