Social SEO: 10 Reasons Why Being Social can be SEO (Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Chaaaanges!)
Kasabian are the new Oasis, with a psychedelic twist. A board of organic crumpets, olives, with a selection of cured hams, is the new all day breakfast. According to an audacious poster campaign – dreamt up by mentalists – Chichester is the new Copenhagen. Patrick Swayze and Richard Gere are the same person. This is unarguable and final.
But is ‘Social SEO’ – connecting ‘Social Media’ approaches and SEO thinking – the new approach to doing SEO?
How, and why, should Social channels be used? Where are the similarities, cross-overs, and (brace) synergies between SEO and Social Media?
Here are 10 thoughts on the matter…
Social SEO #1: Social recommendations = the new backlinks?
Looking into a future that (disappointingly) looks nothing like Blade Runner but a lot like Brazil, it’s likely that Google’s algorithm is going to place more importance on Social recommendations and pointers. Backlinks have held the power for a long time – and will continue to do so – but there’s an array of Social information available and practices such as URL shortening have mangled the language of the web. Google’s already placing more importance on sentiment related content – particularly reviews – and these cues are being assimilated to create a more Social approach to ranking pages.
Social SEO #2: Brand updates = more need for Social SEO?
Google’s recent algorithm update has placed more emphasis on brand value in order to filter out the rivers of SPAM that burst from the levees of competitive SERPS. Although this update has only had a noticeable effect on a few competitive sectors, it does mean that SERPs are becoming more reliant on intangible ‘brand’ attributes when ranking pages. How can these brand-dams be built? By being socially active and conversational on the web.
Social SEO #3: Useful content (publicised through Online PR) = backlinks
Engaging content encourages backlinks: but consider the caveat that ‘build it and they will come’ won’t work. If your content is talked about by, and know to, influential Social hubs then backlinks will stream in like british-sunbathers-to-a-half-sunshine-sky. Crispy.
Social SEO #4: Online PR and Social Media activity + good content optimisation = good backlinks
Aye. Further to the last point, if you use the language of search to frame your content and – crucially – get keywords into your URLs, then you’ll increase the likelihood of others using your key terms when linking to you. URLs are frequently used as anchor text (I’m briskly sidestepping URL shortening issues).
Social SEO #5: Content curation – a new affiliate channel?
Useful content shouldn’t be static or ephemeral. It should be gathered together and curated to expand its lifespan. Facebook, Netvibes, Ning, et al, all allow this to be easily achieved and when the container spaces can be optimised, a nicer, kinder, affiliate page is born.
Social SEO #6: Offline Marketing (and memorability) = SEO?
Just like the pre-Altamont 60s, all strands of content can exist in in peace, love, and harmony. Online and offline don’t have to be inimical and memorable TV adverts and catchphrases are still effective. Take my favourite shoulder-melting, appendix-assaulting, soft drink Red Bull: I like their sketchy adverts and their memorable catchphrase ‘Red Bull gives you wings’. ‘Offline’ content can quickly spread Online (when it’s good) and will be frequently viewed, searched for, and linked to. So, is it a step too far to SEO your offline communications in preparation for Online crossover using influential Social channels? Maybe. Maybe not. But there’s no penalty for framing your content in this way from the start.
Social SEO #7: (Social) semantic data is the new meta data
This deserves a post of its own – but the Web is changing and, in the (indefinite) future, we’ll be given much more than just meta descriptions and page titles in our SERPs. We’ll be presented with reviews, profiles, and all sorts of related content in response to keyword searches from dystopian devices. Being Social may be the future equivalent of writing a good (and more persuasive) meta description: those that add semantic data to their pages will have the advantage over their search competitors. Interesting developments on this score include the ‘common tag’ and Google’s recent support for rich snippets.
Social SEO #8: Good user experience – the new no-follow plugging?
This isn’t strictly a Social point, but there’s been a lot of wailing about Google’s recent announcement that nofollow links don’t actually conserve PageRank flow for ‘follow’ links on the same pages. This is a complicated issue. However, there is a solution: provide a logical, user-centric structure to your web site and make sure your most important content has single pages. Clarity, brevity, succinctness: these rules are good for users and for PageRank flow.
Social SEO #9: Well optimised content is the new… well optimised page
Simple one this – not at all new – but still important. Google (increasingly) likes placing all breeds and species of content – web pages, blog posts, video, images, etc – in its ‘standard’ SERPs. Content should be submitted to relevant search engines, talked about on as many Social channels as possible (eg YouTube, Flickr, etc) and Google’s probably-soon-to-be-more-important content database – Google Base.
Social SEO #10: Local and Social is the new Long Tail
With reference to semantic data, local and niche search results are becoming more important, widespread, and relevant. For instance, Instead of just search + location, Google is beginning to list local results for less strict searches such as ‘search near x landmark’ and this trend could continue to permeate its SERPs for anything that could be interpreted as regional. This trend could place some emphasis on building a brand with a strong regional (and therefore Socially-grounded) association, using Social channels and recommendations. Interestingly, Google also seems to be using user recommendations and reviews when returning local search results.
Conclusion: SEO has to be Social
‘Social Media’ and SEO approaches need to work together. They are two distinct entities but compliment each other like Yin and Yang, Superego and ID, Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus from Milli Vanilli, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin. Take one away and the other’s less effective. I’m just thinking through the connections – any other ideas about where they lie?
P.S. I’m leaving out a review of Google Wave here as it’s a whole new post and this one’s already longer than it should be….!
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