Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

The Dance Between Search and Social

A workshop series by Beth Browning

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Search Engine Optimization• Driving traffic to websites from Search Engine Results Pages (SERP).• Optimizing a variety of variables such as content, website structure, as

well as internal and external links (just to name a few) to increase the visibility and position on a SERP.

Social Media Marketing• Driving traffic to websites from Social Media Platforms such as Twitter,

LinkedIn, Facebook, and Pinterest.• Generating and promoting content that provides and encourages readers to

share it with their networks and drive traffic to your website.• Creating and exchanging user-generated-content (UCG) e.g. product

reviews and comments.

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Definitions

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

• 2008 Google started showing “search customization” messages to let people know that their results had been modified (geography, previous search query, browsing patterns)

• 2009 Google started personalizing search results to refine search results based on your search history

• 2010 Google began incorporating user generated content (UGC) within search results pages because they saw that it was important to consumers. They also started using Twitter and Facebook links as a ranking signal in late 2010.

• 2011 Google launched Google+ and the correlation between social signals and SEO started to become apparent

• 2012 – Bing Partners with Klout – “Marrying Search and Influence” and Google introduced Search, plus Your World which incorporated personal results (G+ posts and photos), profiles in search, and people and pages related to a specific topic

• 2013 – It’s a whole new world – everyone is talking about SEO and SMM

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A little History

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

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Content is a Key Overlap between SEO and SMM

Source: HubSpot

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Is it a waltz?

•Search engine optimization and social media do not turn rhythmically around and around in the same pattern as they distribute content on the web, they distribute content in different ways.

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SEO and SMM - What Kind of Dance is it?

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Is it a line dance?

•Search engine optimization and social media cannot dance without regard to who is next to them – they must be aware of each other

– There are similar steps, but they are executed somewhat differently

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SEO and SMM - What Kind of Dance is it?

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Perhaps it’s a Tango

•SEO and SMM have emerged from diverse origins but strive toward the same end – delivering valuable content and engaging experience that generates leads and drives traffic

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SEO and SMM - What Kind of Dance is it?

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

• In many organization the search engine optimization and social media marketing efforts are still separate

– SEO efforts focused on keywords, links, and content.– Social media marketing strategies are often-times focused solely on acquiring fans and

followers

• If the social media advocate is creating content that is low quality, contains links to poor quality sites or isn’t optimized for the right keyword phrases, they could be undoing the SEO efforts.

•  If the SEO efforts are done in a vacuum, and lack insight into what content is engaging the most readers in the social media platforms, they may be optimizing for the wrong things.

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SEO and SMM Must Dance Together

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

• SEO efforts optimize the pages of a website or blog so that they will be found relevant by search engines and drive traffic to the website

• SMM efforts optimize the distribution of the content through networks and engage with their community to drive traffic to the website

• If these efforts are coordinated they will result in more leads– People will find the content on search engine results pages and through networks– People will engage with the posts– People will share the content– This adds up to a formula for creating a strong social signal which will help your search

engine rankings

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Strategic SMM + SEO = Strong Social Signals

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

• “Google wants as close to ideal rankings and best quality search results possible…I can see social becoming a bigger signal in the long term. In the short term, Google won’t leave links behind. Ultimately, Google doesn’t want people to worry about Pandas or Penguins. Google wants to reward sites that have good signals.” –  Matt Cutts, Google, 2012 SES Conference in SanFrancisco.

• The courting days between search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing (SMM) are over.

• People are talking about brands, making deals, following trends, and finding people they trust on a variety of platforms. 

• People rely on quality content to solve problems, make decisions and decide who they are going to do business with.

• People do business with people not with search engines – the world is a social place

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Social Signals

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

• The size of your audience (reach) – the number of fans, followers, people in your circles

• Audience engagement– Likes– Shares– Comments– Mentions– Reviews

• The quality of your audience – are they real people or spammy “I’ll follow you if you follow me”?

• Social Score/Influence – Klout, TrustCloud, Kred???

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What Are Social Signals?

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

• That’s the $64,000 Question!

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How Are Social Signals Measured?

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

• Google and Bing Interpret social signals differently – Facebook, Google+, Klout, and other factors?

• Determining the value of a like, share, comment, or review – it’s easy to “like” the content shared by a friend or the friend of a friend without reading it or really considering it’s value

• Establishing and measuring “authority” – popularity doesn’t equal authority or knowledge

• Measuring overall social influence – the score cards are imperfect and have limited correlation between claimed expertise and the score (there is evidence that this is going to change)

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Challenges with Interpreting and Measuring Social Signals

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

The game changers:•Google Authorship: the process of identifying and verifying your identity as a contributor of content to the world wide web

•Author Rank: a score that measures the quality/authority of an author– A few of the contributing factors will be:

• Average PageRank of an author’s content• Google+ activity

– +1s and Google+ shares the author’s content gets– Circle associations like the number of circles and the quality of reciprocal connections

• Engagement on Google+ – is the author active on Google+• Social Signals – how active and engaged is the author within social

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How Will the Signal Interpretation Challenges be Overcome?

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Benefits of Google Authorship:•Higher click through rates - statistically people click through at a higher rate on links with rich snippets

•Establish authority – a result with a headshot separates you from the back and reinforces that it’s a credible piece of content

•Keep your identity – a picture’s worth a thousand words – if you have a common name like ‘Beth Browning,’ you’ll be able to put the name with a face

•Beat plagiarism - he original author gets credit – wave goodbye to copy artists and article spinners

•Build Trust - it’s all about relationships and people and this is one more way to build trust in an on-line world

•Verify guest posts and comments – your profile follows along as you comment on blogs and publish posts on other blogs

•Elevate the value and role of writers – as businesses start to recognize the benefits, good writers won’t have to defend why they charge $100 or more for a blog post

Source of quote: Search Engine Watch: Google+: A Quick Start Guide by Chuck Price

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“If you aren’t on Google+, you’re on the path to irrelevance.”

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Social Score Cards• Klout is clearly experimenting with ways to marry expertise

with the scoring system

• Prompts to answer questions

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Social Score Cards• Share it on Facebook and Twitter

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Social Score Cards• People view, rate, and

share the comments on Klout

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

The SEO SMM Dance Card• Keyword research

– People search within social networks and through search engines – make sure you have a strategy in place that addresses both

• Create and Distribute great Content– Strategically include your keywords in both the website content and the social media posts – Write quality pieces that people want to read and share and search engines find relevant to the

keyword phrase

• Establish Google Authorship and work to improve Author Rank– Interact on Google +– Contribute Content on a regular basis

• Be aware of, and work to increase your social signal– Pay attention to likes, shares, and comments – they really do count

• Analyze your social and organic traffic jointly – share, learn, and evolve

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Discover Your CustomersTaking the mystery out of SEO - my services

Website Analysis and Competitive Intelligence- Provide insights regarding strengths, weaknesses, and areas of opportunity for improving and optimizing an online presence within the competitive landscape.

Teaching-Conduct hands-on search engine optimization workshops for beginners to advanced – Workshops, Onsite Training, and Virtual training

Search Engine Marketing-Develop marketing strategies and plans to promote both brand and business through search engine optimization

Mentoring- Relationship based training and knowledge transfer of skills to accelerate the growth of individuals and improve retention and performance.

Content Creation- Generate online content that is interesting and engaging for website visitors and is optimized for search engines.

Register for one of my workshops at: http://seotrainingpennsylvania.com/

For more locations, visit: http://www.searchengineacademy.com/

Subscribe to my blog for regular tips and insights (plus occasional musings): http://discover-your-customers.com/blog/

Open Social Media: Where we tell it like it is

Thank You!Questions?

•Contact Beth @ bbrowningdiscoveryourcustomers.com for links to Google Authorship Guides (or other links in this presentation)

•Slide Show is available at: http://www.slideshare.net/blbrowning