twitter iconSearch engines are currently using information from social media sites for ranking purposes and Twitter is one of the most powerful social networks to utilize when trying to increase your SEO efforts. Here are three key ways to boost SEO with Twitter from MarketingProfs.

1. Pick an SEO-friendly Twitter name. When you set up a Twitter account, you’re asked to give your real name or the name of your company as well as provide a screen name. When you’re figuring out what to use here, think about what your customers will search for to find you. Using your real company name as your Twitter screen name is the best idea. If your company name is too long, use abbreviations but keep the most relevant, important word unabbreviated.

2. Always include a link. Although Twitter links don’t hold any special SEO purpose, they do send users to your website and encourage additional research using search engines.

3. Use keywords in your tweets. When you’re tweeting on behalf of your company it’s important to keep your content professional, meaning you should leave personal observations out of it. Also use hash tags (#) with keywords so Twitter users will be able to search and find your content.

When you’re tweeting, it’s important to put yourself in your target audience’s shoes. What is interesting to them? What keywords will they search for to find your content? Which pages will they find most helpful or intriguing on your website? Take all of these things into consideration and you’ll be able to help your search rankings rise one tweet at a time.

Google recently announced an update called “Search, plus Your World,” that incorporates your personal data from the Google+ social network and the public Internet in the search results it shows its users.

According to Google’s official blog, Googe is “transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content but also people and relationships.”

The new features of Search, plus Your World include:

1. Personal Results that let you find information that’s customized just for you like Google+ photos and posts from you and your friends.
2. Profiles in Search that help you quickly find the people you know as well as the people you don’t know but may want to follow.
3. People and Pages that help you find Google+ pages and profiles related to a certain subject or interest and follow them quickly and easily.

Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan is calling this recent Google change “their most radical transformation ever.” What do you think about the new Google Search plus Your World?

Check out the top SEO, search engine and Internet marketing industry news stories from around the Web this week.

Google+ Sees Massive Membership Growth
Google+ recently had it’s best month ever according to Mashable. The site had 49 million U.S. visitors in the month of December which is up 55% since November. According to the article, Google+ how has over 62 million members, which is a highly significant growth rate.

Reddit Sees 2x Growth In 2011, Now Serving 2 Billion Pageviews A Month
One of the most popular social news communities, Reddit recently hit record numbers. The website had over 2 billion pageviews in the month of December, which is up 1 billion views since February 2011.

6 Mobile Search Optimization Trends for 2012
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Google Announces “Megasitelinks,” Image Search Improvements and Better Byline Dates
Google recently announced a new project it calls “Megasitelinks” as well as some improvements to the image search tool and a few other updates.

Google Chrome Beta Released, Now Even Faster and More Secure
According to the official Google Chrome blog, a new beta version of the web browser was recently released that improves security and increases speed.