Twitterers with larger followings may get better Google ranking

Now that Google, Bing and Yahoo have rolled out real-time search and have access to Twitter's tweets (try saying THAT fast five times) there is talk about how those tweets will be ranked. In January, Technology Review published an interesting article, "How Google Ranks Tweets," musing on how Twitter reputation will figure prominently into ranking:

Amit Singhal, a Google Fellow, who led development of real-time search. (Twitterers "follow" the comments of other Twitterers they've selected, and are themselves "followed.")

"You earn reputation, and then you give reputation. If lots of people follow you, and then you follow someone--then even though this [new person] does not have lots of followers," his tweet is deemed valuable because his followers are themselves followed widely, Singhal says. It is "definitely, definitely" more than a popularity contest, he adds.

 Andrew Shotland at Local SEO Guide ran a great blog article March 2nd summarizing the factors that Google, Bing, and Yahoo consider when ranking their real-time search results. Read it here: Real Time Search Ranking Factors #SMX. Search engines have difficulty identifying authoritative people with small follower bases, and thus have trouble identifying reputable tweets. His advice is to get more followers and make sure  there is a lot of interaction between you and your followers. 

What does all this mean for your brand or business? Strategically, having a large number of "authoritative" followers, and interacting with your followers may be able to help your ranking. Of course, having a reputation yourself doesn't hurt, either.

Customer comments: Can you read between the lines?

Can you read between the lines when customers make comments? What your customers DON'T say can be as important as what they do say. Here's a fictional example of comments on a blog post from the Ihearyou Tea Company. Our fictional post was about lemon herbal tea the company also sells.

Comments:
customerone: "This is a great tea- I take 4 bags & make up a pitcher at a time."
customertwo: "I like this lemon flavor, but I really like blending the lemon and blueberry teas together. It's better tasting that way."
These two statements contain a lot of useful information.
What the customer didn't say: Customerone just "told" you they would buy your tea in pitcher-sized bags if it was available. Customertwo just "told" you your blueberry flavor sucks.
What the customer did say: Both customers said your lemon tea was a good tasting product. Customertwo told you that lemon-blueberry might be a viable product.

Picking up on these subtle cues can give you a wealth of free feedback. You just have to look for it.