Google still has a problem with providing a solid social alternative to the newly crowned social players, and for now (we'll have to see what happens with the new +1 button), all they can do is to somehow play along. In the mean time, a lot of people have been noticing the impact of Facebook likes and Tweets on their Google results ranking, and guess what – I've noticed the same thing. Welcome to the age of social curation, where rating content is slowly getting as important as generating content. I guess there's about a billion times too much of it online, and who else knows it better than Google and Bing.
While we knew Google is very good at adapting its services to new trends, we are quite happy they actually went this far, embracing social virality into their search results. But what happened to the world's most powerful mathematic algorithm, Google's PageRank? Is it becoming obsolete to the Facebook Like's search algorithm, which will surely come around soon in its full glory? Actually, it's getting clear it became obsolete together with the static Web 1.0, but only to get reborn for the social world of Web 2.0. Slowly, almost underground, while we were being fed with news about how loading speeds make a significant difference on Google ranking.
I've written a few blog posts that have been generating some social buzz. A few Tweets, Likes and Reddit upvotes, and you have a winner (thank you!). "Jeopardy Slovenia" may not be a power search, but it became the first result on Google the same day I've published the post. With PageRank 0! And "Apple Slovenia", a keyword much more interesting, is also displaying my post on the first page. Not bad. And that's something we will probably be seeing even more of in the future, and that's why blogging is still (if not more than ever) very important.
It's time to start monetizing your social capital. And of course, upgrade SEO marketing strategies with more efficient SMO (Social Media Optimization) strategies. Before you'll get your page on top of Google the old school way, you'll grow old. So be cool and remember, sharing is caring. Yes, that means you should click the button.