Adam Skalak iStrategy London 2012

Adam Skalak, Head of SEO, iCrossing

TOP TRAINING TIPS FOR MAXIMISING

SEO AND SOCIAL SYNERGIES

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SOCIAL SIGNALS TRAINING

SOCIAL SIGNALS

TRAINING AGENDA

> Introduction

> Social signals

> Google+

> Content

> Strategy

> Stats and Future

> Tips

> Q&A

> Exercise

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INTRODUCTION PLATFORM CONNECTIONS

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INTRODUCTION WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

Social Media is about people having

conversations Online

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Social is more

than just Twitter,

Facebook and

Google +

THE CONVERSATIONS ARE POWERED BY

WHY DOES THIS MATTER

TO YOUR BUSINESS?

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Because you are either part of

the conversation, or you are not.

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HOW IS THIS RELEVANT TO

YOUR SEO?

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INTRODUCTION SOCIAL AFFECTS SEARCH

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INTRODUCTION TRADITIONAL SEO PILLARS

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Architecture

Reputation Content

Can search

engines find it?

Become a

reputable source

for your content

Useful and engaging

content to address the

user in their language

SEARCH &

SOCIAL DEVELOPING SIGNALS OF SEARCH

“The theory is that search results are more

relevant when they take into account one’s

social connections. Social search is paradigm

shifting. It means that who you know changes

what you get (WYKCWYG)”.

Guy Kawasaki

SEARCH &

SOCIAL DEVELOPING SIGNALS OF SEARCH

SEARCH &

SOCIAL THE JOURNEY FROM LINKS TO SOCIAL SIGNALS

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WHAT ARE SOCIAL SIGNALS?

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SOCIAL SIGNALS MIX OF KEY SIGNALS

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> One-off signals

– Tweets

– Facebook Likes

– Google +1’s

> Discussion and Content signals

– Comments

– Content freshness

Quantitative

Qualitative

Source: Joe Hall, 22 Media

> Share/Spread Signals

– Twitter retweets

– Facebook shares

– Google+ shares

> Authority Signals

– Ratio of following to followers

– Mentions, subscriptions

– Inbound activity

– Topics

TIP: Focus on qualitative signals

SOCIAL SIGNALS DIRECT PLATFORM CONNECTIONS

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Twitter retweets

Tweets

Facebook shares

Facebook likes

Google+ shares

Google +1

SOCIAL SIGNALS INDIRECT PLATFORM CONNECTIONS

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SOCIAL SIGNALS PLATFORM SIGNIFICANCE

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SEO

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media market share

Search engine market share

The question for marketers:

Can you improve your short- and long-

term search performance by becoming

active in Google+?

Search ads with +1 annotations have

a 5-10% uplift in click through rate (Google)

TIP: Link up your AdWords account with your Google+ account

Organic listings with +1 annotations can have

a 5-20% uplift in click through rate (Search Engine Watch)

TIP: Create a Google+ Page for your business and then link your website

to your Google+ Page. Add a +1 button to your pages.

Organic listings with Google+ signals can increase

rankings by 20% (Search Engine Watch)

TIP: Become active in Google+ and promote your content to increase your SEO

rankings, traffic and conversions

The answer:

Yes - becoming highly active in Google+

is already one of many factors in natural

and paid search performance

TIP: Test, test and test

WHAT DO YOU PROMOTE

WITH SOCIAL SIGNALS?

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BRANDS PRODUCTS SERVICES INFORMATION

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CONTENT

CONTENT SEGMENT BY LOCATION

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ONSITE OFFSITE

CONTENT

CONTENT SEGMENT BY TYPE

– How-to’s

– Informational articles

– Blog posts

– Interviews

– Ebooks

– Infographics

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– Reports

– White papers

– PowerPoint

– Video

– Apps

– Product/Service descriptions

– Company info

– News, press releases and blog

content

ESSENTIAL VS SHARABLE

TIP: Create useful, unique and interesting content

TIP: Analyse competing websites to identify popular content and topics

ANALYSIS OPEN SITE EXPLORER.ORG

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Roller Coaster Ad

ANALYSIS OPEN SITE EXPLORER.ORG

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ANALYSIS OPEN SITE EXPLORER.ORG

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Sony support section

LEGO Architecture

John Lewis Dishwasher

Guide

HSBC Passport

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Over 10,000 re-tweets

over 2,000 Facebook

Likes

and over 1,000

LinkedIn shares

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Over 1,000 re-tweets

over 400 Facebook

Likes

and over 300 LinkedIn

shares

600 links

CONTENT SEGMENT BY AUDIENCE

– Which sites will share your content

– Who will share your content

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– Existing customers

– New customers

INFORMATION VS PROMOTION

TIP: Check the target sites link out and promote content socially

CONTENT AUTHOR CREDIBILITY SIGNALS

> Google recognises and credits the original

author

– Connect authors’ profiles to Google+

through rel=author tag

– The higher the authority, the higher articles

rank

> 1 in 5 searches already displays authorship

(Search Engine Land)

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Tip: Set up your Google Author profiles and start building up authority

HOW DOES IT ALL WORK

TOGETHER?

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FRAMEWORK

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EXTERNAL ANALYSIS INTERNAL ANALYSIS

Implementation

Review

Keyword Research Customer Audit

SWOT

Competitor and Link Audit

Network Audit

Content Audit

Visibility Audit

Search and Social Strategy

Roadmap

SEARCH &

SOCIAL IMPLEMENTATION

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Create content

Publish Seed and

Promote Engage Monitor

Email

SEARCH &

SOCIAL ECOSYSTEM

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Customer strategy

Social strategy

Search & content strategy G

oo

gle

+

Links

Author signals

Google+ signals

Twitter,

Facebook &

other social

signals

HOW MUCH DO I NEED TO

CARE?

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IMPORTANCE THE TRUTH IS SOMEWHERE AROUND

1. The percentage of your customers with a GMAIL/GOOGLEMAIL address

2. The percentage of signed-in visitors entering your site as “not provided”

40 TIP: Monitor the monthly number of visitors as “not provided”

All customers

Gmail customers

“not provided”

IMPORTANCE BY INDIVIDUAL

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4,291 CONNECTIONS !

IMPORTANCE BY INDUSTRY

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Source: http://simplymeasured.com

IMPORTANCE BY BRAND

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Source: http://simplymeasured.com

WHERE IS IT ALL GOING?

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SEARCH &

SOCIAL FUTURE OF SEACH AND SOCIAL

> Facebook to launch a search engine

> Links will remain the main factor for few more

years

– Financial services and B2B

> If Google+ fails, Google will acquire a social

networking platform

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4 MORE TIPS

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TIP 1 SOCIAL SHARING BUTTONS TIP

> Add social sharing buttons

– AddThis (http://www.addthis.com/)

– ShareThis (http://sharethis.com/)

> Customise your buttons to increase

sharing and promoting

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TIP 2 PROTECT YOUR GOOGLE+ SPACE

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TIP 3 SUCCESFUL CONTENT TIP

> Use the new Google Analytics Social reports to monitor what

content has been successful socially and build on it

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TIP 4 COLLABORATION TIP

> Keep the teams together

> Monthly planning meetings

> Share opportunities

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SEO team

Content team

PR team

Social team

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THANK YOU, QUESTIONS?

adam.skalak@icrossing.co.uk

WORKSHOP DISCUSSION:

How do you get your teams and

agencies to integrate and work

together?

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