Google is giving more importance to SMO now because Google is also having its own social networking site Google Plus. To increase Google Plus popularity, Google is asking webmasters to actively participate in social networks.
No it is totally wrong. Google doesn't have any relationship with SMO. Google is only concern with SEO work. And SMO is doing for increase the traffic on the site, and promotion of Product of site. The traffic coming from SMO is called direct traffic, and it doesn't make any effect on keywords ranking.
I would be inclined to agree with you Priyal. It does look pretty suspicious. I'm not sure I see the value of the social media when it comes to SEO. I have entered in keywords and come up with more crap from social sites like you tube and pinterest that have no value at all. But then, I am inclined to believe that the Government is not looking out for our best interests. It's all a conspiracy
Well, you question isn't too clear as Google has quite a few products related to search, but I assume that you mean general web search and rank. You could try searching Google and get your answer. It was discussed with Matt Cutts at SMX and the answer is no (in terms of it won't influence your rank in web search). http://searchengineland.com/live-blog-you-a-with-matt-cutts-at-smx-advanced-123513 What you are failing to understand is that it wants businesses to use Google+ as this has replaced Google Places. What that translates to is local search. http://searchengineland.com/google-...the-center-of-gravity-for-local-search-122770 So it will help genuine local businesses in their local search list.