Well well well. Google has finally decided to embrace #hashtags in all their glory. They announced the move on Wednesday.
people in the US and Canada query its engine for hashtags, meaning now they can type in something like “#emmys” or “#nfl” or “americascup” on Google.com to see related status updates appear to the right of regular results.
source
Here’s the deal.
The results you see on the right hand side when searching for hashtags in Google will come from Google+…only. A touch on the self serving side, but hey, it’s Google. Take note of how prominent images are in those results. See image below
In an attempt to appear less biased they do link out directly to twitter and Facebook hashtag searches via two small links below the Google+ posts. This is what that looks like.
The hashtag update is having a strong impact on SEO as well. While doing research for this blog post I noticed a result from Ruck over at IMGrind about the topic. You’ve got to get up pretty early in the a.m. to keep up with those guys.
That result was for a post Ruck created today. Pretty quick results eh?
The moral of today’s news update is to make sure you’re using hashtags in Google+, Images in Google+ posts catch your eye in search results, and Google is late to the party.
What’s your experience with hashtags? Are you finding they help your posts exposure on the various social platforms?
