Search Engine Optimisation SEO & Online Marketing
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Digital Media Integration

UGC Gets an A+ on Google Test with Panda Update

Several weeks ago, Google implemented drastic changes in its algorithms; it known as the “Panda Update.” The goal was to decrease the rankings of low quality websites on 11.8% of queries. For the search engine, “low quality” is content that is poorly written, copied and pasted, contains limited information, or otherwise is not useful. So as usual, there had been winners and losers.
One of the most significant trends that have become apparent is that user-generated content or (UGC) on product pages got an A+ grade from Google. Read More »

How to Prevent Link-Based Penalties through Implementing a Proper Ethical Link Strategy

Link building goes together with any online marketing campaigns. It is not surprising that web owners would try anything and everything to increase the number of their links. While it is understandable for you to want as much links as possible, there is a thin line between ethical linking strategy and spamming. No one likes spam. If users dislike it, you can be sure that Google absolutely hates it. For this reason, the search engine has strict safeguards that are put in place to ensure that web owners would comply with its rules. Read More »

How to Effectively Utilise SEO through Social Media

Social media is increasingly playing a bigger role in search engine optimisation (SEO). Channels such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Digg now dominate the search engine results page for specific search terms. There have been a lot of discussions about the role of syndication and the impact of social media in general. But there is little discussion about tactics that will enable marketers to improve their underlying SEO metrics through the use of social media. In this article, we’ll give you a lowdown about some of the most effective tips:

Train Your Team on Social Media and SEO
In many small organizations, the team that handles SEO is also responsible for the company’s social media initiatives. It is important to train your staff properly. Everyone should know the importance of anchor text, links, and grabbing interaction opportunities. If you are outsourcing this to a third-party agency, make sure that they know the goals of your business.
Keywords should be synched

The keywords that are used in the SEO campaign should also be integrated in the social media initiative for better results. In addition to creating company profiles in social networking sites though, using keywords in your comments, posts, and anchor text is recommended. This will help you dominate the top search engine results pages.

Fill Out Profile Forms Completely
Consider social media profiles as an extension of your company website. Take care of them because these tend to appear at the top of search results. Invest some time and effort in crafting the right text, integrating relevant links, and using proper placement on these profiles. Don’t miss this opportunity to build a better relationship with your customers and prospects.

Include Tracking Parameters
Using shortened URL solutions to post links on Twitter and other social media sites enables you to include tracking parameters. Every website analytics has a tracking program; including this lets your team get better information. Shortened URL gives you an idea which social media campaigns are working and which ones aren’t.

Optimize Meta Data around Videos
Right now, search engines are still dependent on the keywords that surround a video so pay attention to the following: title of the video, description, tags, file name, and anchor texts that link to a video. These strategies can go a long way to help you effectively utilise SEO through social media.

Segmenting Social Traffic in Google Analytics

With social media playing an increasing role in internet marketing, it is becoming more important to track what social sites are bringing you visitors. The problem is, most web tracking tools right now don’t show a breakdown of “social media” in their traffic sources section. In Google Analytics, for example, there is a comprehensive data about everything else but social media traffic in its default settings.

Fortunately, something can be done about it in Google Analytics (and many other tools). By implementing the steps below, you can see better traffic statistics in Analytics:

Use Custom Segments
Just go to the “Traffic Sources” section and click on “Advanced Segment”. It is found in the right-hand corner. Afterwards, the “Create a New Advanced” segment feature should be chosen. This simple step enables you to filter results for deeper analysis.

Add Social Sites
Once you have added the custom segment, the next step involves creating a full list of words and websites to include. Using the exact URL of the popular social media sites isn’t recommended. Rather, add “or” statements rather than “end”. Some things to add include: tweet, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Digg, LinkedIn, Flickr, MySpace, StumbleUpon, and Wikipedia among others. Try to get a complete list of popular social media sites to add words to the Advanced Google Analytics segment.

Name and Test Your Segment
It is important to test your segment in Google Analytics to ensure that you’re getting the results you want. Before you can test for results, the tool will ask you to name the segment that was just created. Click “Save Segment” to go back to the prior screen.

Filter Traffic Results by “(Name of Segment)”
Once the new segment has been created, it is now possible to filter social media and compare it with other traffic resources. If, in the past, you can only determine which social sites bring you traffic through the referring domain link (which is tough to sort through), it now becomes easier once the social referrals are separated.

With the data at hand, you can now see more opportunities from social media with regards to your niche or business. You can also compare the traffic data from various sources through charts – in weeks, months, or years. Better information equals more opportunities for most businesses. This is highly helpful for websites that intend to stay in business over the long term.

Google + Bing Confirm Twitter/Facebook Influence SEO

Both Google and Bing have admitted that rankings can be affected by social media links (aside from beneficial second-order effects on the link graph). This comes after months of suspicion from SEO experts that such was the case.
Basically, links coming in from Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sings can provide a substantial boost to any SEO effort. The development is definitely a step forward. But this doesn’t mean that you should go ahead and spam social sites starting today! There are a few things to keep in mind:

• Social Authority of a User is looked into – for links on Twitter to count, both Google and Bing looks at how many people follow you and how many people you follow. Numbers are important in this game. It adds heft and credibility to the links in question.
• Author Quality – this just means that search engines can associate an author with his offline persona especially if he’s a public figure. After all, name searches for them will usually be significant as well. It is important to take note that author authority is different from PageRank, however.
• Diversity of Sources – 50 tweets containing a link from a single account are not nearly as valuable as getting it from 50 unique accounts.
• Surrounding Content – the text that accompanies a link provides search engines with important information about the topic and relevance. It also acts as a substitute for the lack of anchor text (specifically on Twitter).
• Activity Level – basically the number of re-tweets, clicks, and likes (from Facebook) influences the weight of a link.
• Extent of the Network – how many friends and followers do you have? This can provide a significant boost to web authority. More is better with few exceptions (like inauthentic accounts and bots).
• Friends and Follower Ratio – on Twitter, reciprocity is important. For example, if you’re following 5,000 people and only 100 people are on your list, then your account is not as authoritative as an account with 5,000 followers.
• Association Bias – if you regularly tweet about your newest blog posts, it will be detected by the search engines.

There is certainly nothing wrong with that, of course, but it carries less weight than if an outside author or company promotes your link on social media websites.

These are just some of the things you should consider if you intend to use social media to benefit your search engine rankings.