May 5th, 2010 by Nick

The spheres of search engine optimisation and social media optimisation clearly overlap and it is therefore essential for those involved in either field of activity to keep a close eye on developments in this area. However, the pace of change means that it can be easy to miss some of the crucial details unless monitoring is maintained at a high level. This is one reason why many clients choose to invest in high quality SEO services.

An example of a relatively recent development which requires further prudent monitoring is the increasing interaction between Microsoft and Facebook. These are two giants on the net and part of an adequate continuous search engine optimisation campaign is being aware of their shifting behaviour. Search engines have been increasingly focused on the delivery of real-time search, while social media networking sites have been pushing forward with search services. There is thus competition and collaboration in evidence in a complex situation.

Therefore the collaboration between Bing and Facebook is part of a wider trend, a deepening of an existing relationship. The Facebook user will have additional search capability, while Bing will benefit from contact with a colossal audience. This audience has been estimated, fairly recently, at approximately 400 million. In other words, it is a ‘win, win’ situation for the two corporations concerned. Hence it is possible that cooperation will be extended in the future if the results obtained from the experiment are satisfactory. This could bring about big changes in the world of search engines.

It has been suggested by some experts that Facebook users will benefit from the upgrading of the search facility on the site. This argument rests on the notion that the features Bing brings to the party will add a lot to the search experience under discussion. However, some Facebook users might not choose to use the opportunities for search on the site because they have more experience of using other major search engines. This loyalty to other search engines might also lessen the positive publicity that Bing acquires from the cooperation. While SEO should not ignore Bing, Google’s market share remains very impressive and many users are likely to continue to enjoy using Google.

It is clear therefore that it will be some time before the impact of the deal between Bing and Facebook can be measured in any meaningful way. It will also be difficult to ‘separate out’ the effect of the collaboration from the shifts in user activity due to other factors. From a scientific perspective, it may always be problematic to calculate the difference the interaction between the two players has made to the ‘game’ as a whole.

The future, then, is predictably uncertain. However, the potential commercial opportunities which can emerge due to these types of collaboration indicate that it would be foolish not to explore them. While the needs of each site are different, and sectors diverse, it is generally astute to keep up-to-date. Although Google might maintain its position, Bing has shown it is too significant to be ignored. The collaboration with Facebook merely underlines this fact and thus all should be taken into account by those thinking about social media optimization.

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