Bing has integrated social and search even further, allowing users to tag friends when they share searches.

Bing has announced a new feature to its social sidebar tool that will allow users to tag their friends in searches to share relevant queries and results. When Bing first integrated social data into its SERPs earlier this year, many wondered where the value of sharing searches would come into play. The ability to tag friends in searches can help marketers with brand content appearing in SERPs appeal to larger audiences.

On its Search blog, Bing reported that users will have complete control over the tool, as only the information they want to share will be presented to their friends. Moreover, users can include up to five friends when they opt to use the tagging feature.

Search and social have become increasingly intertwined on both Bing and Google in the last year, even beyond the SEO lift social provides through inbound links around shared content. For marketers, developing a web strategy that integrates the two effectively can help increase site traffic and boost visibility of a brand. For those lagging to integrate search and social marketing, moves from Google and Bing have made it even more important to develop strong presences across the channels – as evidenced by Bing’s SERP tagging feature.

Using SEO and social media marketing together has proven increasingly valuable for marketers, as they’ve found several key goals improve following the launch of simultaneous campaigns. Brafton recently reported that a study from Sagefrog Marketing Group found companies pointed to SEO and social as channels driving lead generation.

Joe Meloni is Brafton's former Executive News and Content Writer. He studied journalism at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has written for a number of print and web-based publications.