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
search engine optimisation
3Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
It is my belief that…social media is not a fad…
the web is inherently SOCIAL!
search engine optimisation
4Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
and always has been.
• Email (1966)
• Bulletin Boards (1970s)
• Usenet (1979)
• Internet Relay Chat (IRC) (1988)
search engine optimisation
5Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
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?
search engine optimisation
7Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
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.
search engine optimisation
8Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
BING & Facebook?
search engine optimisation
9Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
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."
search engine optimisation
10Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
In 2011
http://www.hitwise.com/uk/datacentre/main/dashboard-7323.html
So how does that affect Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?
search engine optimisation
12Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
• 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.
search engine optimisation
13Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
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
search engine optimisation
14Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
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."
search engine optimisation
15Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
Your own - Google Webmaster Tools ’Average’ position data
search engine optimisation
16Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
and competitors online marketing activity
search engine optimisation
17Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
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:
search engine optimisation
18Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
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?
search engine optimisation
19Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
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.
EG:
http://www.blogs.mod.uk/homepage.html
search engine optimisation
20Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
http://www.blogs.mod.uk
search engine optimisation
21Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.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.
search engine optimisation
22Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
25hrs of video uploaded to
YouTube every minute
search engine optimisation
23Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
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
can.
search engine optimisation
24Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
Get users to create content for you
• Forums
• Blog Comments
• Ratings and
Reviews
Deploy systems that
empower your user
base, but also benefit
you.
search engine optimisation
25Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
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.
search engine optimisation
26Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
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
search engine optimisation
27Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
Reviews in product search
search engine optimisation
28Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
Reviews in places / local search
search engine optimisation
29Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
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.
search engine optimisation
30Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
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.
search engine optimisation
31Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
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
search engine optimisation
33Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
Will social media channels
replace search engines?
No
search engine optimisation
34Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
Is there a virtuous circle of interaction
between social media and search?
Absolutely
search engine optimisation
35Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
Will search engines and SEO’s be
required to help organise those
channels?
I think so
search engine optimisation
36Edward Cowell – Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Director. Copyright: www.Guava.co.uk
www.guava.co.uk
www.facebook.com/GuavaUK
@GuavaUK