Search Advisory   Brought to you by Prominent Placement, Inc., provider of search engine optimization services and pay-per-click advertising

Nearly a year ago, we wrote about how to leverage social media for search engine optimization purposes.  That newsletter issue was well-received, but since much has changed since then, it’s time to update the list of worthwhile social media sites.  While there are many good reasons to undertake social media for your business, we’re focusing here only on SEO benefits.  To refresh your memory, there are two primary ones:

• Social media offers additional content that can be optimized and show up in the search engine results pages.  We touched on this in our March newsletter, “Making the Most of the New Search Engine Results Pages.”
• Often, you can build links into your social media content that point back to your corporate site, potentially increasing its organic rankings.  Note that all links are not created equally – links that redirect (such as on MySpace) don’t pass along any “link juice,” and links that are “nofollowed” pass along less link juice than regular links.  Also note that when you can control the text of the link to use your keywords as the “anchor text,” that’s also a significant SEO bonus.

We focus here on the most popular social media sites.  Everyone’s resources are stretched these days, so we generally don’t invest time in a site until it’s reached a critical mass of users.  In our opinion, roughly in the order of priority, you should focus your attention on:

• Blogs.  Believe it or not, blogs are still your best social media tool for SEO.  Sure, there are plenty of shinier toys that have come along more recently, but blogs offer unlimited pages of content, unlimited keywords that you can target, you can put keywords in the anchor text of links that pass along full link juice, and search engines tend to rank blogs high due to their constantly updated content.  (Related: Six Reasons SEOs Love Blogs)
• Social Media Press Releases.  Optimizing press releases and distributing them using PR Web is also a tried-and-true technique.  If you use their $200 level service, you can put keywords into the anchor text, and these links do pass link juice.  You can also include images, audio files, tags, and plenty of other extras.
• YouTube.  Links placed into the descriptions of YouTube videos are “nofollowed” so don’t pass along much link juice.  But Google is showing more videos in the search engine results pages, and it pulls 85% of these videos from YouTube.  Forrester found that it’s 53 times easier to get a video ranked high in Google than a regular web page (read the post).  (Related: Watch our buddy Greg Jarboe talk about optimizing videos here, or read “Video SEO Opportunities With Google’s Recent Makeover.”)
• Social Networking Sites.  Focus on LinkedIn, Facebook and Google Profiles here.  LinkedIn still passes along full link juice, and you can put keywords in the anchor text of links on your personal profile (you can’t control the anchor text of links on your business profile, unfortunately).  Facebook doesn’t pass along much link juice, but business pages can be indexed by search engines (although anything set to “private” won’t be).  Google Profiles can be set up for companies, not just individuals, and these often show up in Google results.
• Twitter.  Your Twitter profile will show up in the search engine results for your company name, so that’s worthwhile.  However, Twitter links are “nofollowed”.  That said, more search engines are starting to incorporate “real time” search results – that is, they’re displaying selected tweets for searches related to breaking news or current events.  At this point in time, it appears that’s Twitter’s most promising SEO benefit, and we believe it’s going to become more important in the future.  (We talked about this in our September issue.  Also, see the recent “Twitter Search Revolution” article.)
• Content Sites.  These sites allow you to create and upload unlimited content and articles, and they show up in search engine results pages.  While you can put keywords into your links, there are limits as to how much link juice is passed along.  Squidoo’s profile page does pass along link juice, although now its “lens” (content) pages don’t, so that limits you to one link per person.  HubPages doesn’t offer any links on its profile pages, but its content pages do pass along juice, so it’s worth using.  Google Knol’s profile pages allow links, but they are “nofollowed”.  Here, too, content pages do pass along link juice, so Knol is worth using as well.
• Social Bookmarking.  There are a number of reasons to use sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon and Delicious, but SEO is not one of them.  These pages rarely show up in search engine results, and the links are “nofollowed.”
• Foursquare.  At this point, Foursquare profiles and content don’t seem to appear in search engine results, and there are no link-building opportunities.  That said, this category of sites is still very much in its infancy, and who knows what kind of SEO (or other) benefits they’ll offer down the road.  Keep an eye on Foursquare!

For more information about leveraging social media for SEO, view the “Prezi” presentation that Stacy gave to AiMA’s Search Marketing SIG earlier this month.  Or read last year’s blog series, which goes into great detail (just note that a few things have changed, per the above).

Company Updates

View Stacy’s presentation on “Search & Social: A Symbiotic Relationship” using cool new Prezi technology here.  (Writeup below.)

Search Advisory Posts

Writeup of Stacy’s presentation on “Search & Social: A Symbiotic Relationship.”  (Presentation itself above.)

Stacy’s presentation to the Seattle Direct Marketing Association with “Call Tracking Shines a Light on Previously Hidden Data.”

Surprising data and cutting edge tips shared at SEMPO Atlanta’s May event – read “Advanced PPC: 3 Experts Expound.”

The Most Rewarding Thing About Being a Business Owner

Previous Issues

April:  Eating My Hat (But It’s a Tasty One!)

March:  Making the Most of the New Search Engine Results Pages

February:  Man Vs. Machine

About Us

Prominent Placement, Inc. is an award-winning, full-service search engine marketing (SEM) firm, delivering ROI that traditional marketing channels can’t touch, with a level of service that raises the bar. Since 2001, Prominent Placement has managed the entire SEM process for clients across the U.S., empowering businesses to focus on what they do best. Prominent Placement’s customized solutions are backed by hard numbers, giving decision makers the confidence they need to make smarter decisions.

For more information, visit our website or call 888.SEM.MKTR (888.736.6587).  If you’d like to learn how Prominent Placement can drive more leads for your business, contact Christine Verska at x713 or christine@prominentplacement.com.

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