Just a few weeks ago, Twitter finalized a funding round that values it at around $1 billion, despite criticism and concerns over its ability to generate revenue and continue its growth. One piece of the puzzle may be falling into place: Twitter’s reported to be in advanced talks for mutli-million search deals with Microsoft and Google.

Clearly, Google sees great value in Twitter and its real-time search. It also faces new, stiff competition from Bing and even Facebook. The news of the deal poses an important question, though: Does Google need Twitter? And if so, how much? The answer to that question could be the difference in the Google vs. Bing battle.

From Google’s Perspective

While Google has a lot of core competencies, realtime search is not one of them. While it has tried to answer the Twitter threat Twitter has posed, it’s also admitted that Twitter’s realtime search is superior. After all, Twitter’s the one with all of the realtime content – the tweets.

With its primary competitor already integrating Twitter into its search engine, it can’t afford to be beaten in this rapidly evolving area of search. Facebook and Bing have already made big moves, and Google’s in the unusual position of being behind.

Google also has few options for catching up. Since Microsoft owns part of Facebook, a partnership between the two is out of the question. Google could create its own technology, but it won’t have the content. Thus, Google needs Twitter. Thus, the question is how much does Google need the microblogging startup?

Google Needs Ammo to Fight Bing + Yahoo + Facebook

Google is under fire (and losing searches) from the likes of Twitter, Bing, and Facebook, and the damage could be much worse if it doesn’t act. Thus it has a strong incentive to get a data-mining deal done. It also has an incentive to outright buy the startup, but it’s likely the bidding price would be well beyond what it paid for YouTube.

Now think about another hypothetical: what happens if Bing gets a deal done, but Google doesn’t? Bing has access to the full firehose of Twitter data, dating back to the beginning. It can integrate trending topics and realtime data to improve its search algorithms. All the while, Google is left with only Google Trends as its source of real-time information. While good, Twitter’s data is better.

How much does Google need Twitter? A lot more than people think. The web is moving towards realtime, and if Google’s left as the dinosaur in this area, it could have an effect on the search engine market. Google + Twitter is the search company’s best shot at competing with Bing + Yahoo + Facebook.