SEO's Get Social

Bruce ClayPresident, Bruce Clay,

Inc

SocialnomicsA nice four-minute overview of social:

Socialnomics Video 3

Social media sites dominate time online, and it is growing

Statistics

StatisticsMore than 80% of all Internet users visit Social Media sites regularly

Almost half of the social media sites are accessed from mobile devices

About 70% of adults shop online, with a growing recommendation and review base based upon social media friends and trusted sites

We cannot control Social Media… The monster is loose.

Time LapseIn the beginning, we had 10 blue links, catering in one way to anyone doing that search

Time LapseThen we had some personalization

Time LapseThen we have more personalization as behavior kicks in

Hammer

Ambiguity is not our friendAMBIGUITY is the biggest issue – how does the search engine select relevant results without having a better picture of what you want. So for “HAMMER,” the results are based upon (in this case) the only information they have … that one query

So what we have is personalized results derived from search history and location. Welcome to Google 2011

Targeting the IndividualSEO is being seriously impacted by personalization. Google has embraced behavior and persona in tailoring search results, and I expect this to continue. In their quest to improve relevancy, Google has determined that the next and best step is to be relevant to the individual person doing the query instead of trying to be relevant to everyone at the same time with a single set of results. This is evolution.

Not at all equalWe are utilizing the latest paid Google API for our ranking monitor. We are finding that many queries are not matching the user query results, sometimes by as much as 20%. In trying to determine why the API does not match the SERPs, we have determined that the problem is not the API, it is that the SERP is being personalized much more than anticipated

We believe that every individual search is being personalized to some extent

Show me the moneyWe are seeing that search and social are becoming intertwined, and soon they will be difficult to separate

This is the goal of Google: to generate revenue by dominating the SERP at an individual level, personalized to each searcher

And to confuse the SERP to the point of having the searcher not know organic from paid

Bright Shiny ObjectSOCIAL MEDIA: That wonderful, engaging bright, shiny object seducing us to give up our personal information and trusted friends. Armed with this information, Google believes that it can tailor the SERP to each of us if we would only give them our data. Enter Google+.

This particular bright shiny object has an interesting interface: log in and remain logged in, plus it has integrated SEARCH.

Value of Social NetworksJust being recognized by users , G+, Facebook, Twitter, blogs and review sites especially. Even after a recommendation, users consult a review site 30% (and growing) before buying.

Social sharing informs about popular content

Social sharing points to high-quality content

Thus, Google and Bing are using link sharing on social networks as SERP ranking factors

Internet Marketing OptimizationIt is important for businesses to understand and take an integrated approach to Internet marketing optimization

How search and social works together to meet overall business objectives

Many businesses are rushing to the social bandwagon without kn0wing how or why

Internet Marketing OptimizationMost social activities exist because it sounded like a good idea, perhaps “sold”  by their SEO/SMM firm

Most businesses start with a particular tactic and not a strategy … win the battle but lose the war.

But search and social are merging because Google makes more money if it does.

AdaptationFrom a search perspective, we must adapt SEO practices to accommodate social signals

Social helps SEO by building a community of relevant users that talk about us

Relevant users support and advocate, improving overall marketing reach

More people seeing your site produces relevant links from random IP, users, anchor and owners – not a spam footprint

Much larger than we thoughtFrom a social perspective, it’s being seen as a part of something much bigger than any one marketing tactic

Links result in indexing and ranking, leading to visibility to all consumers, including more in the social community

Optimization and use of keywords appropriately will result in better acceptance of your authoritative position within the social community

This leads to more referrals

Matching PersonasWe need to match the persona of the searcher to the persona of the website

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So, Likes improve cave traffic?

SignalsGoogle has stated that they will study clicks on +1 buttons as a signal influencing ranking

Ninety-one percent of all search professionals believe that social improves search rankings

Google thinks it increases search revenue

SignalsAuthority of the sharer? (Think link authority)

How quickly and often is it being re-shared? (Link growth)

Share text: what does it say?

What personas are doing the sharing?

Seems that “likes” are the new links.

This means for SEOWe need great content and it needs to be shareable by our community

We need to promote our content; not spam, but engage and encourage

We need to participate in social communities

We need to not spread ourselves too thin, participate when it makes sense

This means for SEOThese lead to quality, relevant links, and improves branding and reputation.

THIS LEADS TO INCREASED RANKINGS.

But search is also (mostly) about traffic. There has been a measurable jump in traffic after strategic Twitter announcements.

This means for SEOCorrelation is not causation. Because we expect it to help we do it, and by taking that action we bias results. To see if Like and +1 helps, add them, measure, then remove them and re-measure.

SEOmoz has some serious correlation charts, and they are worth looking at.

SEO's Get Social

Bruce ClayPresident, Bruce Clay,

Inc