Social Media and SEO Integration

Posted on 18. May, 2009 by Pete Hollier in Search Optimization, Social Media

Search Engine Optimization and Social Media

Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Marketing are interdependent. Incorporating Social Media into the overall web site promotion plan is imperative, as is the supporting role Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing provide for Social Media Programs.

Online business success requires all elements of SEO, SEM and Social Media to work together to achieve business objectives in today’s highly competitive market. The Internet has evolved and Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing must evolve and incorporate the latest trends such as Social Media into an overall Web Site Promotion strategy.

The Benefits of Social Media for SEO

The benefits of Social Media for Search Optimization Programs are quite broad depending on what you consider the primary responsibilities of SEO / SEM. I prefer to take an all encompassing approach meaning, all issues which affect the overall business success of the web site such as, web design and usability, SEO, SEM and of course the ultimate objective Conversion Rates.

The Creation of Reputation and Trust

Many factors are involved in a successful Web Site Promotion program, such as the development of reputation and trust through Social Media. Although online trust and reputation management is not strictly related to Search Optimization Programs, the reputation and trust created in Social Networks and communities does have a positive result in the overall web site’s conversion factors. And web site conversions should be the ultimate goal of any Web Site Promotion program.

What is the point of generating traffic if it is not the targeted traffic required to convert into customers and sales leads?

Social Media and Content Development

One of the most important factors in the Search Engine Algothrim is fresh relevant content. There is no doubt Search Engines put considerable emphasis on the freshness and nature of web site content when determining where a web page will be placed in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

Social Media is predominantly about networking. A principle of Social Media networking in a business sense is to offer value to the community. Often this value is provided by the supply of information and being helpful to fellow community members.

In many cases the information and value offered to the community is primarily provided by business’s blog. When creating the content for their blog the business is creating the new, fresh and relevant content which is craved by Search Engines and therefore assisting the web site to improve SERP results.

Since blog content is highly focused, the blog provides visitors which have been identified by the business as their target audience, therefore providing targeted web site traffic which is much more likely to convert to sales or leads.

Social Media and Inbound Links

Of the many factors considered by Search Engines to determine web page placement in SERPs, inbound links and content are the primary drivers. Content can be developed and managed internally, but the inbound linking aspect of the Search Optimization program is likely to be the most difficult and time consuming of almost any Search Engine Optimization task. The main cause of this is, obtaining links is dependent on individuals or companies beyond the control of the web site owner.

To be or real value, inbound links should be obtained from web site which are relevant to your business. Without doubt the creation of original, engaging, informative and relevant content is the most effective method for obtaining high value and relevant inbound links.

Social Media also has other inbound linking possibilities from numerous Social Book Marking sites. However, it must be remembered that your visitors are inundated with content and Social Book Marking depends on visitors to take that extra time to bookmark your web site. And as the volume of content explodes on the Internet times is becoming an increasingly precious commodity.

The Importance of SEO to Social Media Programs

Being found on the Internet has historically been one of the most difficult issues facing business web sites. As the Internet has grown and Search Engines become more sophisticated this problem has only increased. Add to this the explosion of content generated from Social Networking web sites and business Social Media initiatives and the ability of being found amongst the clutter of the Internet becomes even more difficult.

Being found on the Internet is the primary focus of Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing. The increased quantity of content generated by Social Media has increased the importance of insuring your web site and Blogs are developed in a Search Engine friendly manner.

Search Engines play an integral part in your Social Media program by enabling your content to be discovered by consumers. RSS syndication of your blog virtually guarantees Search Engines will have indexed your Blog post within 24 hours. I have seen cases of my own Blog being indexed by Google within minutes of its posting.

Keyword Research and Social Media Content

Keyword Research and understanding the keywords and phrases used by Internet users to find the topics of your information is imperative to your Social Media content being found. Social Networking sites do drive traffic to your content however, Search is still is and for the foreseeable future the predominant method for Internet users to find the content, services and information they require on the Internet.

Keyword Research is fundamental to the development of relevant content. Keywords act as indicators of the overall topic and are used by the Search Engines to determine the relevance of the web page or blog to the Searchers query. Integrating keywords effectively into you Social Media content will assist to ensure your content is found by your business’s target audience.

SEO Structure and Social Media

Search Engines use software programs (crawlers / bots / spiders) to crawl Internet links to gather information about all the web pages and Blogs they visit. This is the primary method used to index these pages by topic and relevance.

If your Social Media content is not developed in a manner which is acceptable to Search Engine crawlers your content is either not likely to be indexed or possibly not given the importance or relevancy it deserves. Web Pages and Blogs must be developed in such a way as to ensure the Search Engine spiders are able to navigate your Social Media content and index it properly.

Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Conclusion

The interaction between SEO and Social Media is essentially a continuous circle. The keywords for the content identify the content as being relevant to the Social Community and Search Engines. The content developed for Social Media is beneficial to the Search Engine Optimization programs ability to deliver targeted traffic to the web site through improved results in SERPs. The content helps the links the links help the Social Media and so on and so on.

Social Media needs SEO and SEO needs Social Media it’s that simple.

Written by: pete@seowizardry.ca a Search Engine Optimization Consultant

If you would like to use this article on your web site please contact pete@seowizardry.ca for an html version. All I request is you provide Pete Hollier and Seo Wizardry with a reference to this article and provide a link back to www.seowizardry.ca