Using Social Media to Boost Search Engine Results

Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 6:54 am

Using Social Media to Boost Search Engine Results
By Lauren Hobson (c) 2009

Most of us are well aware that the search engines frequently
change their algorithms to improve search results for users (and
foil spammers), which can make it challenging for small
businesses just to keep up. But as web technology continues to
evolve, it also creates new opportunities for small businesses
to improve their SEO strategies and boost their rankings as
well. Social media (sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Technorati, Digg, etc.) provide an excellent opportunity for
small businesses to not only promote their products and services
online, but also to gain significant ground in the search engine
results.

One of the most critical components to getting top search engine
rankings is the number of inbound links and link popularity a
web site is able to build. Although there are several existing
link building strategies available to small businesses (e.g.,
press releases, directory submissions, article syndication,
etc.), social media can help create additional high-value,
on-target inbound links that are essential to achieving top
placements in the search engines.

For example, each time you use Twitter to publish a link to new
content on your web site, that link gets "planted" on the
Twitter page of each person following you, and has the potential
to spread even further as your followers share that information
with their own network of contacts.

Integrated Social Marketing (ISM)TM

If you have properly integrated your social networking profiles
together, that same Twitter "tweet" could then be fed via RSS to
your Facebook business profile, your corporate blog, your
LinkedIn account, and any number of other social sites that you
have set up for your business. It's not a far stretch to imagine
the link you broadcast on Twitter could reach dozens, hundreds,
or even thousands of other places on the web, all pointing back
to your web site! By integrating your social networking
profiles with each other, with your web site, and with your
existing marketing initiatives, you can easily make one single
marketing action (such as a tweet) show up in multiple places
online, each containing a new, relevant inbound link to your
site.

Quantity AND Quality

In addition to the sheer number of inbound links that are
created through social marketing, the value of the links that
are created is another important criterion that search engines
consider. To be valued by the search engines, inbound links must
be from relevant, "quality" web sites, and search engines today
give social sites like Facebook and Twitter great value. These
sites are highly visible to the search engines, and are
constantly taking updates from users. Links tend to be shared
according to subject matter, which means the search engines will
see them as being relevant and on-target. All of these factors
combine to create high-quality inbound links in the eyes of the
search engines.

Online Visibility and Branding

Creating visibility for your business and your "brand" is really
key when using social media for building links. The power of
social media is realized when other users see your links or
content, then share that information with their own network of
contacts. Simply adding a bunch of links to your social profiles
is not enough; you need to have a strong reputation and a brand
that users trust so they will feel comfortable sharing your
content with others. Brand recognition typically leads to
natural link building anyway, which means your inbound links
will end up coming from bloggers, colleagues, customers, and
other people who are exposed to your links and find them useful
enough to share with their own contacts.

The Proof is in the Rankings

A recent example from Website Magazine explained somewhat
surprising results when they searched for their publication's
name in Google. As expected, their web site came up as the
number one listing on the results page. But what was not
expected was the number three listing on the results page was
the magazine's Twitter page. They then performed a number of
Google searches for the terms "Chicago Tribune," "Chicago Public
Golf," and "Daily Career Tips," all with similar results in
Google - the Twitter page for each of these terms came up near
the top of the search engine results every time.

The conclusion was that given these results, Google must be
giving serious weight to Twitter content, and I happen to agree.
The search engines of course keep their ranking algorithms
top-secret, so there's no way to know how much weight (if any)
is really given to Twitter or other social media sites. But
results like those in the example above are hard to ignore!

A Great Opportunity

Social media is here to stay, and small businesses are beginning
to use it to effectively promote their businesses, reach their
customers, find new leads, keep customer mindshare, and
instantly communicate with customers. But maybe one of the
biggest benefits of adding social media to your marketing mix is
the creation of high-value, on-target inbound links that can
help improve visibility in the search engines and boost your
business to the top of the search engine rankings.
================================================================
Lauren Hobson, President of Five Sparrows, LLC
(http://www.fivesparrows.com/), has more than 16 years of
experience in small business technology writing, marketing, and
web site design and development. Five Sparrows provides
professional web site and marketing services to small businesses
and non-profit organizations, giving them access to high-quality
services at affordable prices. To read articles or subscribe to
Biz Talk, please visit http://www.FiveSparrows.com/biztalk.htm.
================================================================

Share and Enjoy: