netconcepts Social Media for SEO

Social Media for SEO

Learn the Ropes, Circumvent the Landmines,

CONFIDENTIAL © 2008 Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com [email protected]

Learn the Ropes, Circumvent the Landmines,

Seize the Opportunities

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


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


– Variation of approaches

L I N K E D I N


L I N K E D I NLink Juice & Thought Leadership

Who uses LinkedIn?

� Professionals seeking to network.

� Job seekers

� Companies looking to


� 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.


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


� 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.


– 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.

F A C E B O O K


F A C E B O O KDrive 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


� 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.


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


– “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;


– 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.


user needs.

– Example: Insurance

Agent.

– Promote transparently.


� (SMO) Groups– Create a Group or Groups

presence with company-

related focus.


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.


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


– 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.


popular widgets.


� Clearspring.com– Create widgets free

or inexpensively.


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


– 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.


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:

[email protected]


Contact me:

[email protected]

THANK YOU!

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