Google real-time search adds status updates from Facebook Pages

Facebook status updates from Pages will start showing up in Google’s real-time search results today.

It’s the first time the search giant has indexed content from the world’s largest social network in its real-time results. The company incorporated tweets last December, and then MySpace status updates earlier this month.

The key thing to remember, however, is that Google has much more limited access to Facebook’s real-time data than its competitor, Bing. Microsoft has deeper ties to the social network, as an investor in Facebook and as a search provider for the site. Microsoft has the ability to index public status updates, while Google’s access is limited to updates from Pages, which are vehicles for marketing rather than personal content.

Still, Facebook Pages are a rapidly growing part of the site. There are more than 3 million active ones on the social network, with a total of 5.3 billion fans. No money exchanged hands in either search deal with Facebook, the company told us when the agreements were made.