social signals & search pubcon hawaii 2012

Social Signals & Search Impacting Your Search Visibility Using

Social Media

Presented by:

David WallaceCEO/Founder - SearchRank

Twitter: @DavidWallaceHashtag: #pubcon

Evolution of Search MarketingIn the Beginning…

On-Page Optimization - title tags, meta tags, header tags, optimized content,

image alt attributes


Evolution of Search MarketingAddition of Google

Birth and Prominent Growth of Google necessitated the need for inbound links –

Link Popularity Building


Evolution of Search MarketingGoogle Trying To Be Facebook

Now that Google wants to be a social site, social signals are an integral part of their search algorithm (Google+, SPYW).


Where We Are NowSEO / Link Building + Content Marketing

• While On-Page Optimization & Link Building are still essential ingredients, they alone are often not enough.

• Google moving away from PageRank & focusing on social signals makes Content Marketing via Social Media another essential ingredient.

• Content Marketing Examples - white papers, free guides, case studies, widgets, videos, and Infographics


Image courtesy of SEOmoz

Infographic MarketingWhile a relatively new term to Internet marketing, Infographics have been used throughout history, even dating back to the cavemen.


Infographic Marketing – The IdeaIt All Starts With a Great Idea

Every great piece of content hasto have its origin in the quality ofan idea which can be:

• Time Sensitive (news / trends)

• Resourceful

• Entertaining

• Historical

• All of the Above


Infographic Marketing - The Idea

infographicjournal.com/at-the-heart-of-valentines-day/

Time sensitive (today is Valentine's Day), it's resourceful (statistics on spending), it's entertaining and it's even provides some history.


Infographic Marketing – Research

Once you have a great idea in place, it’s time

to gather the research.

Depending on the nature of thepiece, your research may contain

• Historical Facts

• Current Data/Trends

• Creative Ideas

If your Infographic revolves around historical

information or data/trends, you’ll want tomake sure you reference your citations in

thefooter of the Infographic itself.


Infographic Marketing - DesignWhile I feel that a good idea itself is most crucial in the creation of

Infographics,the actual design is not far behind in importance.

• Do you want your Infographic to stretch horizontally or vertically?

• Will you display a smaller version of it or crop a section out?

• Make sure format loads relatively quickly (.bmp, .png and .tiff bad idea)


Infographic Marketing - Publishing

What Is The Best Platform?

• Publish On Domain You Wish To Benefit

• Wordpress Blog – Best Platform

• No Wordpress Blog? Make Sure Social Media Voting Buttons Are Included

• Include “Embed This Code” To Help Earn Natural Links

• Text or No Text?


Infographic Marketing - Promotion

How and Where?

• The best days to promote - Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

• The general nature of the piece will determine which social networks it will do best on. Most do very well on StumbleUpon.

• Use StumbleUpon Paid Discovery to draw more attention to your Infographic.

• If content is interesting, time-sensitive or controversial, it should do well on Reddit.

• Share on Facebook & Twitter; consider utilizing Facebook Ads & Sponsored Tweets.

• Send an optimized press release via online PR sites such as MarketWire & PRWeb.

• Beyond that, there are dozens of bookmarking sites including Infographic sites.

• Having a large network of followers (influential status) will help promotion efforts.

• If you lack influence, it might be wise to hire someone who does to share content.


Infographic Marketing - Promotion

Infographics Archives/Directories

• Infographic Journal – http://infographicjournal.com/

• visua.ly - http://visual.ly/ (self-serving)

• Pinterest – http://pinterest.com/ (self-serving)

• InfographicsArchive - http://www.infographicsarchive.com/

• Submit Infographics - http://submitinfographics.com/

• OMGInfographics - http://www.omginfographics.com/

• The Infographics Showcase - http://www.infographicsshowcase.com/ ($100)


Infographic Marketing - MeasureMeasure 3-4 Weeks After Publishing

• Use Google Analytics or similar to see how many people visited the Infographic, learn where they came from and even discover what they did after landing on the page.

• Utilize backlink checkers such as Raven Tools’ Backlink Explorer and SEOmoz’s Open Site Explorer to discover who has linked back to the piece.

• Finally you’ll want to see how the content did on the most popular social networks. How many stumbles did it earn? Did it go “hot” on Digg? How many retweets or Facebook shares?


Social + Search Study CasePinterest – Online pinboard that allows users to organize and share graphical content which can include photos, cartoons, graphics, and even infographics.

Top Ten Reasons To Use Pinterest:

1. It’s super fun2. It’s free3. It’s really easy to post (bookmarklet)4. Viral activity is primary to usage5. Has a more “general audience” than say Google+6. A top 100 site on the Internet7. It’s extremely sticky (super addictive)8. Content within boards is “followed” (for now anyway)9. It drives traffic (a lot of it) 10. Has grown faster than any other web site in history *

* http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/07/pinterest-monthly-uniques/


T


Key Takeaways• Social signals are now integral to the ranking algorithm.

SEO and link building still essential but you need social signals as well!

• Infographics are one of many ways to generate content that draws social signals

• Infographics that are well thought out, well designed and marketed aggressively can do very well across social media platforms.

• If you are not yet on Pinterest, what are you waiting for?


Thank You!

David Wallace

SearchRankwww.searchrank.com

Twitter: @DavidWallaceFacebook : SearchRankPinterest: SearchRankGoogle+: bit.ly/A4JQfW

Search & Social Media Marketing Since 1997


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