In May, Google+ started supporting hashtags. Now the search engine giant has taken things a bit farther by adding hashtag support on Google Search results. That means people can now search for hashtags on Google Search just by typing in “#keyword”, much like they do with Twitter and other social media use that use hashtags.

Limited to Google Plus Hashtags

For now, however, Google says the hashtag support will be limited to Google Plus hashtags. That, however, doesn’t mean that only Google+ posts will make it to the search results. Posts from Twitter and Facebook could also appear, but they won’t be highlighted by Google, and will be placed right underneath the Google+ posts.

Google engineer elaborates some more about hashtag support on Google Search:

• When you search on Google for a hashtag, say [#AmericasCup] or [#WaterfallWednesday], a set of relevant Google+ posts may appear to the right of regular results.
• You’ll only be able to see posts that have been shared publicly or shared with you.
• If you click on any of these posts you’ll go to Google+, where you’ll see the full set of relevant posts.
• You’ll also see links to search for these hashtags on other social sites.

Sabur added that hashtag support on Google Search will only be initially available to English language users in the US and Canada on google.com and google.ca.

Google Search and Google+ now closer

Clearly, adding hashtag support on Google Search is part of the search engine giant’s plan to integrate Google+ with all of its products and services. With this new feature, Google Search and Google+ have just been brought closer together.

We still don’t know how popular this hashtag support on Google Search is going to be, but it certainly gives those who produce content more than enough reason to use Google+ and use Google Plus hashtags in any post that they make there. Having your link appear on the top-right corner of the search results page is great, as popular hashtags could get more traffic that way.