Ever feel like the world is going a little too fast? It feels even faster now that Google has added a few new search features that are focused entirely on timeliness. We don’t mean “navy and jewel tones are hot this season” timeliness but “the top trends this HOUR on a search engine” timeliness.

Google Trends, a search that lets you see what’s captured the fleeting interest of the interwebians now has “Hot Trends” – a to-the-hour snapshot of what inquiring minds want to know.

And that’s not the only change: As Mashable and others have reported, today Google launched a “search by the hour” option on information. This means that if a specific topic interests you and you want the very newest of info on it (and not, say, a Wikipedia entry which would typically come up first in your standard search), you can get it with just a click. Fresher, up-to-hour content will spill you’re your search results. It’s practically a real-time engine now (and surely an evolution brought on by competition from Bing). Yowza.

What does this all mean for your web content and content marketing strategy? If you’re on the ball, you may just see more traffic your way as newer posts will get higher rankings when searched with this option. However, some things to keep in mind:

• Keep your messages on target. Just because “breast cancer awareness month” – or whatever the hot trend is – is spiking at the moment doesn’t mean you should be writing about it for traffic. If there is a truly suitable tie-in to your brand’s work on a trending topic – go for it – but make sure your blog or site doesn’t suffer from multiple personality disorder from jumping topic to topic.
• Most users of Google just use the “regular” search engine feature. For a while we have had options to search by different filters (like news, blogs, videos, etc.) but the majority of users haven’t utilized these fully. The same can likely be presumed about the “by the hour” search option. Therefore, it’s likely a smart idea to keep on track with SEO techniques developed for the typical search.
• One adaptation you can make fairly easily is to schedule your updates to coincide with peak Internet times (the most likely time someone will be on the Internet and possibly searching Google for the latest information). A recent study from Arbor Networks found that the usage peak was at 11pm (really!?) as well at 4pm (more expected – it’s clearly The Farting-Around Hour at most workplaces). If you’re writing your pieces ahead of time (even by a few hours) a bit of automation when it comes to publishing might be worth looking into.

Regardless, get going with that content. Clearly, there’s no time like the present!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 1:13 pm and is filed under Content Marketing, SEO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.