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Google Real Time Search Now Shows Updates From Facebook Fan Pages

Danny Sullivan on February 24, 2010 at 7:10 pm

Google’s Real Time Search has gained a new data source, updates from Facebook fan pages. Google had announced a deal to list this information back in December, and now it’s finally being implemented. Google has tweeted the news.

See our detailed guide, Google Launches Real Time Search Results to understand how Google Real Time Search works, where it appears and how to use it. Facebook fan page updates now appear within those results, which include all of these sources:

Twitter tweets
Google News links
Google Blog Search links
Newly created web pages
Freshly updated web pages
FriendFeed updates
Jaiku updates
Identi.ca updates
TwitArmy updates
Google Buzz posts
MySpace updates
Facebook fan page updates

All but the last three were part of Google Real Time Search when it launched in December. MySpace material was added this month. So were Google Buzz posts. Our How To Search Google Buzz post provides detailed instructions on how to search on Google Real Time Search for just Buzz or Twitter information.

With Facebook, it’s important to note that it is only Facebook fan page updates that are included. Things that are shared on fan pages by fan page owners — such as links, status updates, photos and vidoes — can now be found in Google Real Time Search. However, comments made by non-owners on fan pages will not be included. Nor will updates that are made on personal pages. Our Google & Bing’s Unequal Facebook Status Update Deals article explains more about this. And while Bing is getting more data than Google, as covered in that article, it has yet to make any of it findable.

Want to see some of the Facebook content. Try this link. That configures Google Real Time Search to show only updates from Facebook, as you’ll see here:

From that link, you can add more words to narrow your search to particular topics that appear in Facebook fan page updates. For example, here’s a search for updates about the Olympics that come from Facebook fan pages:

site_facebook.com olympics - Google Search

You can see that the first update is from the Global Laugher Network fan page, as I’ve pointed at below:

This is also a good time for search marketers and marketers in general to think again about Facebook, if you haven’t already. More and more Facebook content has been made visible to search engines over the years. Also in that time, fan pages were added but still aren’t used by some. Google’s move makes having Facebook fan pages even more essential. Without one, you’re missing out on a chance to be found within yet another area, Google’s real time results.

And hey, speaking of fan pages, a reminder. You can follow Search Engine Land on its own Facebook fan page. I also maintain my own page here.

Postscript (4:45pm PT): I’ve been watching Google Real Time Search results closely since the launch. So far, I don’t see any Facebook fan page updates making it into Google’s real time box in its regular results. I’m sure they’ll come, however. They do show when you drill-down into real time results.

For example, consider this search for public schools:

After monitoring for a good 10 minutes, no Facebook updates appeared in the real time box. But if you click on the link above the box, the full results did have a Facebook update:

As I said, I’m sure Facebook visibility will improve as the launch matures. Ironically, despite us having posted this article to our our Facebook Fan Page:

You still can’t find that update in Google Real Time Search:

site_facebook.com facebook google - Google Search

About The Author

Danny Sullivan

Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, MarTech Today and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.