Search and Social at SMWF

Search & Social

Edward Cowell

SEO Director

Guava.co.uk

search engine optimisation

2Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk

Types of Social Media

It is my belief that…social media is not a fad…

the web is inherently SOCIAL!

and always has been.

• Email (1966)

• Bulletin Boards (1970s)

• Usenet (1979)

• Internet Relay Chat (IRC) (1988)

Databases, standardised formats, variety of content, ease of use

• Social Networking

• Social Bookmarking

• RSS

• Blogging

• Micro Blogging

• Forums

• Social Reviews

• Content Sharing

– Photos

– Videos

– Music

– Documents

– Presentations

But what is it’s impact on search?

Optimise the way you use and benefit from social media

Information divulged by individuals via social media channels will increasingly influence search engine ranking algorithms.

Ironically - Search engines will increasingly be required to organise those channels, and are still the primary way we access information.

BING & Facebook?

Deja.com 1995-2001. Bought by Google in 2001

Larry Page, Google CEO and co-founder.

"With more than 500 million individual

messages and growing fast, Usenet and its

thriving community is one of the most

active and valuable information sources on

the Internet."

In 2011

http://www.hitwise.com/uk/datacentre/main/dashboard-7323.html

So how does that affect Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?

• SEO’s are a resilient bunch, used to working with and

helping optimise and organise information in a constantly

changing environment.

• Personalisation isn’t the only change happening in

search:

– Location

– Device

• Virtuous circle of interaction between social media and

search.

Develop a successful social media presence that supports SEO

• Monitor your own and competitors online marketing activity

• Develop a social media policy for staff

• Optimise your social media accounts

• Promote your own social media activity

• Create great content in a variety of formats

• Get users to create content for you

• Optimise the site so that Google gets the most out of your pages

• Provide syndication options – RSS/XML

• Encourage promotion of content by website users

• Measure success using available and appropriate metrics where possible

John (Nelson) Wanamaker(July 11, 1838 – December 12, 1922) was a much respected and admired United States merchant, religious leader, civic and political figure, considered the father of modern advertising. Wanamaker was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

John (Nelson) Wanamaker

(July 11, 1838 – December 12, 1922)

"I know I waste half the money I spend on advertising, the

problem is, I don't know which half."

Your own - Google Webmaster Tools ’Average’ position data

and competitors online marketing activity

Monitoring Campaign Success

Brand Performance

• Brand Mentions

• Link Mentions

• Share of Voice

• Number of

subscribers/fans

• Sentiment Analysis

Content Performance

• Views

• Shares

• Clicks/Downloads

• Comments/Feedback

• Subscriptions

• Inbound Links

Sales Performance

• Search engine

referrals

• Referrals from

social media portals

• Sales conversions

from these referrals

Social Media Monitoring Metrics:

Develop a social media policy for staff

http://econsultancy.com/reports/corporate-social-media-policy-guidelines-digital-marketing-template-files

Encourage staff to contribute to the success of social media campaigns by optimising the social media accounts that they use at work.

• Which social media services should they use?

• Some standard details to use (links, link text)?

• Rules of engagement?

Promote your own social media activity

Create Social Media Hub

Amalgamate your accounts

within your website, and create

a hub related to your business

activity online.

Link to your social media

accounts and content, to help

boost their relevancy and make

it easy for users to find the

‘official’ versions.

http://www.blogs.mod.uk/homepage.html

http://www.blogs.mod.uk

Create great content in a variety of formats

Universal (blended) search, means a greater variety of content types are being loaded into the search results page. Many of these are directly from or heavily impacted by social media.

25hrs of video uploaded to

YouTube every minute

Create great content in a variety of formats

• news results

• video results

• image results

• blog results

• real-time search (Twitter/Google Buzz)

Maximise your opportunity to get in front of searchers by

using as many of the content formats as effectively as you

Get users to create content for you

• Forums

• Blog Comments

• Ratings and

Reviews

Deploy systems that

empower your user

base, but also benefit

Virtuous circle of interaction between search and social

GroupM Search and comScore, Inc 2011

The Virtuous Circle: Understanding Search and Social Media’s Role in the Purchase Pathway

58% of consumers start with search, outpacing

company websites (24%) and social media (18%)

Similarly, 46% of consumers who use social media in

the purchase pathway are driven to use search to

expand their knowledge about their likely purchase.

Virtuous circle of interaction between search and social

“When it comes to purchasing, the top-performing social

option for consumers is:

• user reviews (30%)

• social networking (17%)

• video sharing, such as YouTube (14%)

• Twitter (9%)”

GroupM Search and comScore, Inc

The Virtuous Circle: Understanding Search and Social Media’s Role in the Purchase Pathway

Reviews in product search

Reviews in places / local search

Onsite reviews used to enhance search results pages

Rich Snippets

Mark up your pages

using RDF or

Microformats so that

search engines can

better understand the

content.

Improve the display

impact and relevancy of

your organic search

results.

Provide syndication options – RSS/XML

Automated republishing of

content on other websites.

Often a useful base for apps

and widgets.

Scalable link generation for

deep content.

Encourage Social Bookmarking

Saving, sharing and sometimes voting on things you find interesting.

Make it easy for website users to promote

your content to their friends and link to you.

Summary

Will social media channels

replace search engines?

Is there a virtuous circle of interaction

between social media and search?

Absolutely

Will search engines and SEO’s be

required to help organise those

channels?

I think so

www.guava.co.uk

www.facebook.com/GuavaUK

@GuavaUK

Search and Social at SMWF

Business

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