Understanding Real-Time Web Search Engines

By Evan Britton

Each day, millions of internet users post updates on a variety of social networking sites. People make these updates to post what they are observing right now or give their opinion on something that is currently happening. Because of all of these updates, there is a wealth of real-time information on the web. This information is often relevant and useful for entrepreneurs and startups - so you need to understand the alternatives and implications.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of real-time search engines is that the results are updated each minute. So, if you do a search today, it will yield entirely different results than a search from yesterday. There are many instances in which a real-time search can yield better results when compared with traditional search engines. For example, if you want to see what people are saying right now about a person, place, or your business - a real-time search will give you a window into people's minds.

The most basic place to perform a real-time search is also the place where a lot of the real-time information comes from, Twitter. Simply do a search for whatever you want to learn about, and you'll see results sorted by the most recent posted update. Other engines have launched offering additional functionality. For example, if you want to see which links have been posted today on the real-time, you can perform a search at Sency and then click on one of today's most popular links.

Google has also taken notice of the real-time web and they have begun to mix real-time results into their engine. If you perform a search, you may notice a “Latest Results” box which scrolls while you are on a results page. These are real-time results that Google have mixed in. While it is helpful to have Google mix in these results, it is nice to have search engines entirely focused on the real-time web experience.

With more and more searches being performed in the real-time arena, a new industry is cropping up in an effort to help people get listed on the real-time web. The most important factor moving forward will be authority. The technology is going to improve so that results are ranked both on age and authority. So, to get listed on the real-time web, it will be important to have more followers, friends, and associates in your social network. Not only will you need a lot of people in your online network, but you will need quality people in your network.

So, if you have key people in your industry that you are linked to in your network, it will help you to become an authority in your niche industry. Also, quality will be important because with quality will come retweets and reposts - which will also end up helping you be displayed more on the real-time web.

The great thing about this niche is that it is early for real-time search. Even if you aren't a member of any social network, you can use real-time search engines at any time. In a simple fashion, they can open up the door to an entirely new area of the web for you. If you are already on a social network, you can learn about real-time engines work to help promote your personal brand for free. Overall, anyone that dives in today to learn more about the intricacies of this space - will become better informed as the growth continues in the future.

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Evan Britton is a longtime internet veteran who founded Sency in 2009. The goal of Sency is to bring real-time content, links, and tools, to internet users in an organized and simple fashion. Evan has been published in numerous top tier internet marketing publications, including Business Insider and Website Magazine. You can reach him directly via email.