Big news in the world of online search this week as Google unleashed one of the biggest developments to search in years: "Search Plus Your World."

You can read all the details about these crazy search changes, but the basic idea is that searches performed on Google will now factor in even more personal elements related to you. So, if you are signed into your Gmail account and perform a search, online results are going to reflect your previous web behavior as well as your social interactions. More specifically, search results will reflect material shared by people you follow on Twitter, Google+ contacts, as well as sites you frequently visit.

For example, when I search for "Red Wine," the first result on my search page is a shared link from Google+ that another L2T'er shared this afternoon. This result even appears before Wikipedia and other results that would have previously dominated the page.

'Search Plus' Mean Anything For the Automotive World?

In short, yes, these Google changes present a lot of opportunity for auto dealers. Google is no longer an objective blank page that is the same for every interenet user in the world. In reality, it hasn't been for quite some time, and possibly never was, but this personalization is even more pronounced in the wake of "Search Plus Your World."

You can see in the photo below that a search as general as "Toyota Dealership" can now lead to personalized results. Yes, this particular example is only 10 personal results out of over 74 million, but the key here is that some of these personal results will show up on the first page of results.

What might a personal result look like in search? Well, if a customer has added your dealership Google+ page to their circles, it will look something like this.

Again, the above result appeared on the first page of a search for "Toyota dealership" in an area not remotely close to this particular dealer. All because I added their Google+ business page to a circle on Google's social site.

How Do I Use Google+ Then?

If Google+ results can impact search results like this - and remember, every result you control is one a competitor does not occupy - then how do you harness that power for your own dealer? The answer is likely more complicated than I'll approach in the confines of this post, but the answer has something to do with becoming socially active on Google's social network.

That said, it's not going to be enough to simply have a Google+ page. First you'll need to make sure it's a properly set up business page and not just a personal page (if you're having trouble with this social implementation, L2T would love to help).

From here, the challenge is all about getting people that know and like your business to add you on Google+. Google's social site is closing in on 100 million users, so there's little doubt that it's growing insanely fast. Getting people to add your business to their circles will be a multi-faceted challenge, but the core concept comes down to sharing interesting, unique content people can't get anywhere else. Whether that means coupons or creative videeos, you have to offer something through your Google+ page that people will really want.

Once you've completed that admittedly difficult step, the Search Plus Your World impact can be huge. If you have any questions about how social media or search engine optimization can impact the success of your dealership's website, feel free to contact L2T media.