August 15, 2011, 11:03 AM — Google has started integrating Google+ users' public posts into the search engine's social search results, one-upping Facebook by wielding its search strengths to boost its fledgling social network's features.
The move is another sign that our social networking statuses are seeping into all other areas of the web. And, the feature is actually pretty useful if you're looking for relevant results.
This is an obvious and expected step, since Google already annotates results with results from shared social posts on services like Twitter and LinkedIn.
It's also a smart move as Google continues to try to siphon users away from Facebook and other services. Google also is besting Microsoft's Bing by incorporating social into search.
As Google writes on its Inside Search blog, if you're signed into your Google Account, your search results may start including annotations about those links being shared publicly by people you are friends with (or at least connected to) on Google+. Google is careful to emphasize, however, that only public posts are visible in the search results.
Here's the example provided by Google: Say you're friends with an Andrew Hyatt who has publicly shared on Google+ a link to a restaurant review for Uncle Zhou in Queens.
When you log into your Google Account and search for "Uncle Zhou Queens" in Google, you'll see at the bottom of the relevant search results that your pal Andrew Hyatt shared that link on Google+.
This latest Google+ addition to search is pretty useful if you think about it -- you can find links that are more important than others, perhaps, because people you know recommended them.
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