SEO

3 Ways Social Media Can Drive SEO

by SEO Savvy May 13th, 2014

From Twitter and Facebook, to Pinterest and Instagram, social media engagement helps to build brands, boost sales and drive SEO. YouTube, a social platform, has become the second largest search engine, bigger than Bing, Yahoo, Ask and AOL combined, according to Social Media Today. Business leads generated via search engines have a 14.6% close rate, compared with 1.7% for direct mail and print advertising, according to Search Engine Journal. And companies that generate more than 1,000 Facebook likes also receive nearly 1,400 website visits each day, according to HubSpot.

It’s not enough to just have great optimized content on your website anymore. Ignoring the importance of social media in leading users to your site can be detrimental to your business. If you want more traffic from search, you need to understand how social media enhances organic rankings. Here are 3 ways you can improve search traffic through the use of social media:

#1: More social media traffic equals more organic traffic.

When it comes to Google’s search algorithm, there’s a correlation between an increase in the traffic your website receives from social median and the more organic traffic it then receives. Though, this may be a bit of an oversimplification, the connection between the two makes sense. For example, when your customers like, tweet, or share your latest blog post via social media, this interactivity signals to Google that your content is relevant and useful. Continued interaction via social media will help your site rank higher in Google search results.

#2: Websites that make content easier to share rank higher.

Understanding both the ways and reasons that people seek and share content is key to reaching new audiences. Highly shareable content builds relationships, credibility and trust, while also adding value. According to research conducted by the New York Times and Latitude Research, 94% of people who share social media content carefully consider how the information they share will be useful to their followers, and 68% of respondents share to give a better sense of who they are and what they care about.

What does this mean for your business? Create content that aims to be thoughtful, interesting, insightful and useful. Create content that answers your customer’s questions. Highlight the problem your business solves for the customer, and show what makes you stand out from others. Take a position and add your own insights to industry news. And by all means, be sure to take advantage of plugins that make it easy for website visitors to quickly click and share your content.

#3: Google authorship establishes authority and credibility.

Google Authorship is a quick, easy way to boost online influence while driving clicks and conversions and establishing one’s online authority. “Author Rank” is the concept that an author can build brand recognition, trust and industry authority based on the content they publish online.

The idea is that the more quality content you publish in a specific niche that is consistently shared through social media, the higher that content will rank. Authorship, as seen in search results, leads to more exposure as an expert in your industry.

Overlapping Job Responsibilities: Finding the Right Mix

by Rebecca Bleznak May 8th, 2014

A recent post here on SEO Savvy discussed the need for digital marketing teams to include both creative, right-brain thinkers and more analytical, left-brain thinkers, as well as the need to embrace where you fall on the spectrum in order to best take advantage of the skill sets that both hemispheres offer. Leveraging a mix of thinking styles to create a balanced team is key to success in today’s ever-shifting market environment.

Taking this line of thought one step further, shouldn’t there be more overlap between the technical aspects of SEO, web development, paid search and content development? Disregarding the whole “content vs. SEO” debate, the two aren’t mutually exclusive — and your marketing budget shouldn’t be, either.

Often, budgets are allocated to paid search, SEO or content development, and never shall they meet. But in reality, the lines between these groups are blurred — and they must work together to achieve success. Content is still king — actually, in light of Google’s move to semantic search, the royal reign is more secure than ever — but the rest of technical SEO is the queen that stands behind the king, ensuring that the royal decrees are actually turning a profit for the kingdom.

Content and SEO: Quantitative Results Prove Elusive

Adobe’s 2014 Digital Trends Report highlights the importance of content, placing customer experience and content marketing among the most exciting current priorities. That’s as it should be, because the quality of your content is what differentiates your brand to your customers across channels.

And thanks to your hardworking, right-brained creative department, you’ve got a handle on unique, relevant, engaging content that’s filled with brilliant insights; but you need those left-brainers to do keyword research, tweak the keywords, crunch the numbers, optimize the pages and ensure that the amazing content is being indexed — and most of all, figure out if it’s actually driving traffic, engagement and sales.

But linking ROI to content is somewhat of a marketing holy grail that’s frustrated marketers for years, especially given the fact that a survey from BrightEdge found that 78% of marketers see connecting content to ROI as a goal that’s increasing in importance. So what’s the key to making that link?

Connecting Holistically Across Departments

In a nutshell, it takes a team to identify opportunity, produce great content, get it indexed, and then evaluate its efficiency, all while incorporating a seamless process. But with planning and collaboration, it can be done. You already have the tools you need; consider that:

• You’ve got content writers and social media experts who create engaging content
• You’ve got organic search experts who are skilled at optimizing pages and content for opportunity
• You’ve got web developers that are great at programming automation
• You’ve got a paid search marketing team that have a wealth of performance & ROI data

Instead of segmentation, SEO, web development, paid search and content creators should work together to create unique content that’s orchestrated to be compelling, engaging, targeted, indexable, measurable and results-driven. Utilize cross training between departments to ensure that each is incorporating the important techniques successfully. Make sure each group is aware of the most important elements for success of their counterparts. For instance, teach content creators how to do keyword research and optimize content to enhance organic search results during the creation process. Organic and paid search marketing teams should share performance data with all teams to better understand what is driving sales.

These skill sets work together to create the whole package — so maybe it’s time to quit compartmentalizing teams into the creative/analytical dichotomy. Stop looking at content, SEO web development and paid search as independent groups, stashed in separate boxes; instead, shift your perception to see the entities as part of an overarching whole.

First Time at Pubcon Las Vegas? Tips on How to “Survive” a Week Long Conference in Sin City

by Jon Heinl October 14th, 2012

Las Vegas is infamous for its lavish parties, crazy nightlife and over the top events but, every year it’s known, in our industry, for throwing one of the best Internet marketing conferences around. If you have never attended Pubcon Vegas, get ready for a jam-packed week of knowledge, great people and fun times. Read the rest of this entry »