#Facebook & #Bing Take Google Head On

Facebook and Microsoft are teaming up to take on search giant, Google. What does this mean for your marketing and branding efforts?

News from Microsoft reveals the roll out of changes to its Bing search engine to include Facebook results in a challenge to Google's search dominance. How important is this and will this affect marketing efforts? What do businesses and entrepreneurs need to change now?

This new move by Bing is an important one which businesses need to be alerted to and act on. However, it is a little behind the times as Google has been incorporating social search features for over a year.

Bringing up social content from sites like Facebook, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn only makes sense as users no doubt often find these results a better fit for what they are looking for and trust content posted by their connections more.

Google still rules the web with a 66% share of U.S. Internet searches, compared to Bing's 15%. However, mastering Bing results can make a big difference when you consider how many millions of additional potential hits and customers that can add up to. Businesses also need to recognize that social influence and social media optimization also play a huge role in the rankings of their website and blogs in all search results.

Social media is no longer an option. It is an essential, absolute must have for every organization in every industry. Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are the bare minimum requirements for being in business today. Just having a profile doesn't count either. They must be optimized and they require strategy and real planning. Each needs to be appropriately linked, include keywords in the right fields and maintain matching contact information including addresses and toll free vanity numbers.

With estimates projecting Facebook could instantly capture 20% plus of the search market in the U.S. by rolling out its own search engine tomorrow it deserves extra special attention, and a game plan for all content being published as well as active management.