SEO efforts have long been about content – blog posts, website content, paid and organic search. But with new real-time search results from Google, social media is jumping into the mix. And companies had better be ready to step up their SEO action plans to take full advantage of the plethora of marketing opportunities that this lays out before them.
No longer is social media just the “cool thing” to do – like rocking an 80’s inspired flat top hairdo in 2010. Social networking now has a definitive effect on your SEO efforts, and as such, it must be monitored closely. While previous social networking efforts were generally tied to connecting with a business’s customer base, Google is now including real-time social media into their search results – resulting in increased (and practically effortless) SEO opportunities.
Twitter and Facebook has always needed to be somewhat strategic for businesses, but now it’s more important than ever to have social media content that utilizes strict SEO guidelines like potent keywords, pertinent links and updates ripe with useful content and hashtags.
Real-time social media search results are also strategically placed on the first page of Google search. These real-time updates are not only pulled from Twitter, but will soon be streaming data from Facebook and Myspace as well (as long as the content is open to the public, and not private). This means that any status updates, wall links, and posts can – and will – be picked up by Google’s search algorithms to add to their search listings.
What this means for companies is that social media is a much more integral part of search engine optimization, and where some companies chose to forgo the Twitter accounts and Facebook pages, they can no longer ignore the colossal impact that these tools now have on online marketing efforts. And instead of using social media and SEO as separate marketing tools, these attempts will need to be combined to work together for optimal performance.
While still new, it’s important for companies to jump on board quickly as companies will soon be syncing their social media efforts with SEO practices and by taking advantage of this now, small businesses can possibly get prime search page space by utilizing carefully crafted keywords and targeting popular subjects in their social networking efforts.
Social media has always been a great way to connect with consumers and get the word out to large base of people, but never has it been so integral to online marketing and SEO efforts. And it greatly increases the possible ROI for business social media endeavors.
Saying “no” to social media may have been a semi-acceptable response in the past for businesses – especially ones that cater to other businesses rather than the general consumer. But with these recent game changing real-time results, it’s opening doors for SEO that weren’t previously open. Social media and SEO now go hand in hand – like a skinny jean wearing hipster and Brooklyn. Don’t be the square that falls behind.
