netconcepts Social Media for SEO

Social Media for SEO
Learn the Ropes, Circumvent the Landmines,
Seize the Opportunities

CONFIDENTIAL © 2008 Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com jeffm@netconcepts.com

What is Social Media?
“Social media is an umbrella term that defines the
various activities that integrate technology, social
interaction, and the construction of words, pictures,
videos and audio.” - Wikipedia
– Defined networks
– Defined focus
– Defined interactions
– Also referred to as Web 2.0 …


Who can leverage Social Media?
Almost any company with an Internet presence.
– Multiple networks
– Multiple foci
– Variation of approaches


LINKEDIN
Link Juice & Thought Leadership


Who uses LinkedIn?
Professionals seeking
to network.
Job seekers
Companies looking to
network & brand.


Online Reputation & Thought Leadership
Answers Service: a professional forum where people/companies
compose intelligent answers to questions.
– Serves a good opportunity to offer feedback to LinkedIn communities and establish
thought leadership on behalf of an individual or company.
Groups: professionally-minded groups (though the site is not
accepting group submissions as of this date)
– Currently available groups are far-reaching, however, and cover many industries.
– Can be used to offer thought leadership and establish company with an area of
expertise.
Employment and Hiring: search for new employees through the
network.
– Companies can represent themselves as thought leaders by way of open positions.

LinkedIn and SEO
LinkedIn is one of the few Social Media sites still offering to pass
on PageRank through links that do not contain NoFollow tags.


LinkedIn and SEO
Three active links can be added to any LinkedIn Profile.


LinkedIn and SEO
When editing websites, if “Other” options are chosen:
– outward bound link can be defined.
– anchor text can be edited to contain keyword-friendly terms.


LinkedIn and SEO
Create an SEO-friendly URL
– Incorporate user’s name
– If applicable, incorporate user’s position


Link Building Campaign
Encourage employees to create LinkedIn.com profiles.
Make sure employees make the website portion of their profiles
publicly accessible.
Have employees add websites under additional information and
choose "other" so they can put in their own anchor text that points
the URL.
Direct employees to link deeper within corporate site
• To a section related to their position
• To a favorite product
» Use a short, keyword-rich description.


Link Building Campaign
Start small – Corp. Comm. or Web Design Department
Troll for employees already on LinkedIn
Offer a bonus or perk for participating


Pros and Cons of a LinkedIn Campaign
Pros
– Increase inbound links to corporate site dramatically.
– Improve PageRank of corporate site.
– Great thought-leadership opportunity – online reputation.
– Excellent recruiting tool.

Cons
– May expose employees to recruitment by others.
– In most cases, employee link campaign is voluntary.

FACEBOOK
Drive Traffic With Widget Power


Who uses Facebook?


Who uses Facebook?
Facebook is a social networking
website launched on February 2004.
Facebook was primarily used by young
people, but now over half of registered
users are over the age of 25.
Still, it has largest number of users
among all college-focused sites.
Over 35 million active members total
worldwide.

SEO and SMO Attributes of Facebook
(SEO) Public Search Listings
– Contain less personal information than registered Facebook
users can review.
– Individuals have complete control over their public search
listings, including opting out altogether.
– Companies can use to raise references to their brand in the
major search engines.


“Social Media Optimization”
(SMO/SEO) Fan Pages
– “Create a business presence to
engage with your customers and
fans on Facebook.”
– Pages include external links.
– Can’t define anchor text.
– Can identify URL.


(SMO) Company Profiles
– List the truth about what you
represent.
– Transparency is a positive here;
promote what you offer.
– Try to be as interesting and
intriguing as possible.
– Recruit within community.
– Brand within community.


(SMO) Groups
– Create a Group or Groups
focused on company and
user needs.
– Example: Insurance
Agent.
– Promote transparently.


(SMO) Groups
– Create a Group or Groups
presence with company-
related focus.
– Example: I Love Camping
(National Park Service).
– Promote as transparently
as possible, but
secondarily; link to
corporate site, add video
sponsored by company.

(SMO) Applications / Widgets
– Facebook Applications are essentially widgets, or small
software programs, contained within the Facebook site.
– Allow users to add functionality to their sites, as well as the
sites of friends.
– Widgets are an excellent way for companies to touch and
interact with a large number of focused Facebook members.
– Often, Facebook widgets “go viral” and become extremely
popular within the site, spreading rapidly amongst users.


(SMO) Applications / Widgets
– Brand recognition
– Direct sales
– Drive traffic to corporate site.
– Not only can widgets drive traffic, they can also improve
SEO: HTML links to corporate site can be installed.


Adanomics.com
– “Stock market” of
popular widgets.


Clearspring.com
– Create widgets free
or inexpensively.
– Can be as simple as
a graphic.
– Several companies
like this exist
– *Clearspring offers
“HTML Wrapper”


Pros and Cons of Facebook Promotion
Pros
– Wide audience of consumers
– Some SEO attributes
– Great online marketing potential
– Offers a “personal” branding opportunity

Cons
– Limited SEO parameters
– Widget market may be getting saturated

Measuring Social Media Success
Top Referring Sites: A good SMO campaign should influence where top
referrals are coming from.
Top Referring Keywords: Search phrases driving traffic to a site can be
influenced by SMO initiatives.
Time on Site: If SMO initiatives are well targeted, visitors will spend more
time on the website. If off target, watch bounce rates and diminishing time
spent on the site.
RSS Syndication: Number of users and referrals over time.
Blog Statistics: From Technorati, Digg, etc.
Unique Visitors: SMO initiatives can provide a surge of new, unique visitors.
Visits Per Month: Or quarter or week, over time and compared on an
annual basis.

For a copy of this presentation,
please email:

amyp@netconcepts.com

Contact me:
jmuendel@netconcepts.com

THANK YOU!

netconcepts Social Media for SEO

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