Two long-anticipated announcements this week by Google provide a clear indication of how quickly the fields of search engine optimization and social media marketing are converging. Google’s implementation of real-time search and personalized search will not only affect their standard search engine results pages, but should also shape the short- and long-term Internet marketing strategies of shrewd online businesses.

Real-time search is the change that will have the greatest impact on social media marketing. In addition to image, news, and traditional search results, Google SERPs will feature keyword-relevant messages drawn from social networking sites, blogs, and other websites under a “Latest results” heading. These results will appear on Google SERPs just seconds after being posted elsewhere on the Web.

On the SEO front, Google’s implementation of worldwide personalized search presents a new challenge for search engine optimization campaigns. A search for a specific keyword will no longer yield a standardized set of results for each user. Instead, Google will customize its results to your search history and geographical location. Personalized search has long been in place for people who are logged in to their Google accounts, but it’s now been extended to signed-out users worldwide.

So what do these changes mean for your online business and its Internet marketing strategy? Well, for one, it’s no longer going to be enough to rely just on search engine optimization and/or pay-per-click marketing. Establishing a presence in real-time search results via social media marketing will be important not only for keyword rankings, but also for online reputation management. Local SEO will become even more important for online businesses to reach potential customers. In short, a more comprehensive approach to Internet marketing is going to be essential to the long-term growth and success of your online business.

Creating comprehensive Internet marketing strategies is what we do at Molding Web. Call us at 1-877-900-6932 to discuss how your company can benefit from our SEO and social media marketing services.

2010 not only means a new year, but for many online businesses it also means a new search engine marketing budget. A number of recent surveys have found that while companies are intrigued by the potential of social media marketing, they lack the time and internal resources to adequately determine its value. One of the primary reasons we started Molding Web is to offer Internet marketing assistance to developing companies in just such a position. You have the vision. You have the desire. You just lack the time or experience to handle both the challenges of running an online business and the critical Internet marketing steps that must be taken if that business is to grow and prosper.

As you examine your company’s marketing needs for the coming year, we would welcome the opportunity to consult with you about the role that our social media marketing, search engine optimization, pay-per-click management, and content writing services could play in 2010 and beyond. Molding Web can help you to stretch your marketing dollars and take those important first steps into new and exciting areas of growth and development. Call us today at 1-877-900-6932.