Real time search is not yet a possibility with current search engines, but it’s getting ever closer. As more people use the social networking functions of various sites and participate in social media sites, the demand for accurate to-the-second search results is growing.

Real time search is precisely that. Some sites offer real time search already, something that is made possible by the relatively contained area for the search to take place. For example, Twitter, which has been growing rapidly in popularity over the last year or so, can gear its engines to index at relatively short intervals because the search is contained within its database. As search engines have to trawl the whole net, they haven’t yet developed an effective strategy to produce real-time results. But they’re trying.

Google has tried to at least partially cover the gap by offering a ‘recent results’ option in the web options toolbar. This re-sorts the results using time as an added factor. Handy, but not exactly real-time – a post can still take up to eight minutes to appear with this search function.
Another interesting idea to cover the call for real time search has been put forward by Bing. The search engine has started to offer Twitter results when a search is made on selected topics, such as celebrities. Google is unlikely to take this road, as the search engine giant isn’t known for its reliance on third parties to produce results, but it is an interesting measure until a real solution can be found.

Other companies are setting their developers on the problem to cover the gaping hole left by the main search engines. A recent development, PulseRank, aims to edge Pagerank out to meet the increasing demand for real time social search. The concept behind the new algorithm is to measure how many people are sharing a page at any one time, thus providing a more effective measuring tool for an area of the net which values timeliness above all. Although its developers are confident it will soon replace Pagerank for all searches, PulseRank is a very new development whose impact remains to be seen.

As the search engines scrabble for a way to catch up with the demand for real time search, companies are starting to look for real time management solutions as well. Real time management (or RTM, the same acronym used for the search engine industry’s search for a solution to the same problem) is a term that has been used for a long time by companies needing to monitor their assets in real time. If a real time search algorithm does dominate the search engine industry, real time management will have to become a consideration in every search engine optimisation strategy. The services of consultants like SEO Consult will be more valuable than ever in such a complex field.

The development of real time search highlights the complex nature of SEO. What is becoming clear over time is that the best strategy for any company must have many tiers to keep up with cyberspace developments. Real time search is not a major issue for companies now, but soon will be, and the major response to this new development will be interesting.

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