Google Launches Hashtag Search, Shows Google+ Posts On Search Results Page

The integration of Google+ across Google properties continues in a big way today with the launch of hashtag search.

Simply put, if you search Google for a hashtag, you might see Google+ posts using that hashtag to the right of the regular search results.

Google’s Zaheed Sabur announced the new feature this morning on Google+, saying that it’s available initially for English language searches on both Google.com and Google.ca.

The only posts that will show up on Google searches are those that were shared publicly, or shared with you (if you’re a Google+ user). Clicking on one of the Google+ posts leads you to Google+ where the search is reproduced.

By pure coincidence, a Google.com search just now for the #googleglass hashtag showed a Google+ post last night from our founding editor, Danny Sullivan, in the right column. (You can click for a larger version.)

The Google+ posts will scroll automatically, or you can control them manually via the up/down arrows at the top.

Note, too, that Google is trying to pre-empt anti-competitive claims by including links at the bottom to do the same search on other social networks. In this case, my options were to do the same search on Twitter and Facebook. It’s not clear at this point if other social networks (Instagram, Vine, etc.) will be added, or are already able to appear depending on the hashtag being used.