Twitter has adjusted the title tags for member pages. Where they used to go “Twitter / username” they now go “User’s Real Name (username) on Twitter”
According to Robin Wauters at TechCrunch, Twitter just implemented this change this week. As he also points out, this could have an impact on how Twitter pages are ranked in search engines. He notes that his page ranks as the very first result on Google for a search of his name. For my name, it is not even on the first page. As a matter of fact, it’s not even the first result for a search for “Chris Crum, Twitter.”
Actually, for the query “Chris Crum” a Twitterholic page for me ranks higher than my Twitter page. After a fair amount of digging, I can finally find my Twitter page on the fifth SERP.
Still, if Twitter pages are ranking that high for a lot of people, it’s nothing to be ignored. Wauters makes an interesting point. “The implications are not to be underestimated. Being the top result for a name search means business, just ask all those venture-backed startups building people search engines who are vying for the sweet spots on the first page,” he says.
Perhaps I just don’t have enough followers (aka links to my Twitter page) to get my page ranked that high. If people weren’t already begging for followers, they certainly will be now.
Looks like Twitter might carry even more of an SEO incentive now. For more on where social networks like Twitter and Facebook fit into the SEO equation, read my discussion with Todd Malicoat, Joe Whyte, Joe Griffin, and Stephen Pitts.
Of course there is also the question of whether or not people want their Twitter pages ranked as the first result for their name. This might not be the best thing for online reputation management. If these pages are ranking well, people are really going to have to watch what they say even more. The whole “think before you Tweet” mentality will be that much more important.
