Twitter is getting into the search advertising business — sort of.
Promoted accounts will now begin to appear at the top of Twitter's search, providing a new selling point for the company's primary marketing opportunity.
See also: 10 Tips and Tricks for Powerful Twitter Search
Twitter offers promoted accounts as the primary way for marketers to gain paid exposure on the microblogging platform. More than 90% of Twitter's revenue comes from advertising, particularly mobile.
Twitter will pair promoted accounts with related search queries, the company said.
"With this launch, relevant Promoted Accounts can be presented to users in search results along with recommendations of people to follow," Twitter product manager Nipoon Malhotra wrote in a blog post. "We automatically select relevant search queries for presenting Promoted Accounts based on an advertiser’s targeting choices, so no additional action is required for your business to access this capability."
The move comes after a dismal fourth-quarter earnings report that highlighted a struggle to attract new users.
However, mobile is an area where Twitter has performed particularly well, both in use and advertising. The growth of mobile search has pushed many companies to begin rolling out specialized advertising products.
While Twitter makes no mention of this as a tool primarily meant to engage mobile users, the company's own promotional picture for promoted accounts in search shows a mobile search.

Image: Twitter
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