| Social media is having a huge impact on SEO. When search engines begin indexing social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, SEO will change overnight. Companies need to prepare for this change by developing new roles and business process that cater specifically to social media.
SEO used to be about learning SEO techniques so you could optimise a page, beat the search engine’s algorithms and use link hounding strategies to direct traffic to that page, thus pushing it to the top of search results. Now it’s about using carefully crafted content and media to control the flow of traffic.
These days you could spend thousands of marketing dollars applying tried and true SEO techniques that worked in the past, only to be beaten in search results by a random person who has created a Facebook group about the product or brand. A simple shortened URL posted by someone on Twitter could spread all over the web in a matter of seconds and generate more traffic then any SEO technique ever could. Social media is powerful and if it’s not currently the core of your online marketing strategy, it should be by the end of 2009.
It is now impossible to measure the success of any SEO campaign without considering the impact of social media. When Facebook and Twitter open the floodgates and allow their status updates and tweets to be indexed by search engines, everything you knew about SEO will change overnight. For the first time in history, customers will be able to influence search results.
A negative blog posted by a disgruntled customer has the potential to derail an entire marketing campaign. Do not underestimate the power of social media! Companies cannot continue to ignore and brush aside customers when they rant and rave about their product or brand using social media.
To combat this change companies need to create new roles and business processes for responding to customers when they discuss their product or brand using social media. Companies shouldn’t be simply blasting their message on social media, as search engines will learn to filter that out. Twitter, for example, has already developed a system that catches and stops companies who abuse their service. Instead of blasting, companies need to create content and encourage customers to experience, enjoy and share it, using social media. Finally, search engines will use the “authority” of people on social media as a gauge to determine how important they are. This means companies should be out there actively searching for people who influence others (number of followers on Twitter) and are heavy users of social media.
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