Why Twitter Is a Great Search Engine

When companies talk about SEO and search engine marketing, they are talking mainly about getting your site high rankings on the Big 3: Google, Yahoo and Bing. However, as Twitter continues to grow, it will be more than just a microblogging platform, but a search engine that can compete with the current search engine kings.

Twitter is a great search engine for Internet users because you will find only the most pertinent issues of the day. Apple apparently agrees, as it recently made Twitter the official social media service for iOS5, the latest version of the software that runs the iPhone, iPad and its other portable devices. The two will be integrated to the point that many results will come from Twitter, skipping over traditional search engine results.

For example, here's a screen shot of the Twitter search results for "cars":

We get a healthy mix of information, news and promotion, as well as a Dane Cook joke. It might not seem like that much of a change from Google or Bing SERPs, but this is what real people are talking about in real time. Twitter is essentially searching human interaction.

Here is what appears when you query "cars" in Google:

What appears is whatever the search engine robots have deemed most important, taking out the human element.

That's not to say Google, Yahoo and Bing aren't important for great search engine optimization efforts. You can't not focus on them. But, services like Facebook and Twitter are becoming more important for businesses to use to find out what potential customers are talking about, so they too can get in on the action. As more people sign up for Facebook or start Tweeting, you will need to have your business follow suit, lest you fall behind.