For any business still wondering whether or not they need to become involved in social media, the answer is becoming increasingly clear, and the answer is “yes”.

Social media has always been a great way for businesses to connect with customers and prospects and increase their online footprint.  Those connections have also helped build backlinks and drive visitor traffic, which can help your Web site rank higher in search engine results.

Google’s search engine results pages (SERPS) are increasingly populated with social media results. YouTube videos, Flickr images and blog posts regularly appear in Bing, Yahoo! and Google SERPS. You can narrow your Google searches to blogs, and selecting “Realtime” from the search options will display results from Twitter.

A few years ago, Google attempted to usurp the social networking world from Facebook by launching Google Buzz.

Last fall, Google began beta testing a change to its algorithm to include more social information in its SERPS.

If you’re logged into your Google account and someone in your social network has commented or made a recommendation related to your search query, it will appear in your search results.

On February 16, Google posted this YouTube video which describes its “Social Search Update”.

According to Google, “Our new improvements enable you to get even more information from people you are connected to, whether they’re publishing on Twitter, Flickr, Blogger or other publicly available sites. When you sign in to your Google Account, you can get ideas and recommendations from people you trust, right in your search results.”

So, what’s the bottom line for online marketers?  Google Search remains the 800 pound gorilla of online marketing and SEO should still be the cornerstone of any online campaign. Google’s Social Search Update simply provides marketers with another tool to use in their quest for Page 1 dominance.

We’d love to know your thoughts on Google’s new Social Search Update.  Please leave a comment.

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