You’ve read numerous traffic-related articles that profess knowledge in obtaining traffic increases through a culmination of search engine optimization and social media manipulation efforts. Only problem with these articles is they, themselves, have poor search rankings themselves and purport these pieces for one singular purpose: obtaining their own traffic rankings. Truth be told, you can mix SEO with SMM to push your search position along, and perform this quite easily; however, you must first understand search etymology before attempting to dethrone more relevant sites with your own irrelevant content.
Search engines have grown more intelligent as time, and studies, evolved. Google, much like your public library, is coded to allow people to find items of interest based on relevance, location and content. Sure, the library uses Dewey; Google uses the intelligent engineering of Navneet Panda. Without further ado, we’ll give you some powerful insight how culminating SEO and social media will push your personal website along, albeit steady, while driving targeted traffic that could possibly find an interest in your offerings.
TLD’s, Wikipedia and Your Content
Obviously you’ll have little trouble ranking your ‘Cheese’ website if your domain name is ‘cheese.com, aboutcheese.com’ or the likes. Provided your content, pictures, products and interlinking to other pages is copasetic, you should move right on up the rankings without much search engine optimization efforts. Will you be #1? If you can find your way ahead of Wikipedia, you absolutely could. Unfortunately, sliding ahead of PR9 sites just doesn’t happen unless your content is big, bad and traffic-rich. Hope you are catching on to the ‘content’ hints…
Now, if you’re using long tail keywords like “Wisconsin Cheese” and your domain, content, images and the likes are all related to ‘Wisconsin Cheese’, you’ll jump right on ahead of Wikipedia. So, lesson number one tells us if you spend the time:
– Matching content to TLD name already moves you up the ladder;
– Sprinkling relevant images, interlink your content and make everything 100% relevant…
You will, in theory, move up the rankings without comment spamming or having to spend $1000’s on AdWords. The reason: Google writes their algorithm in a technologically sound manner that says if you want to search for Wisconsin Cheese, by golly, the most relevant item or content will be in your face when you request it in the order of relevance.
However, just so you know, if your:
– Content has little to do with domain name
– Site lacks images
– You’re failing to build company culture socially
– Refusing to internally link your content to each other…
…don’t be surprised when your PR is 0 and search position is in the 1000’s.
Tying Social Media Into SEO
Before you begin creating Facebook or Linked In accounts, you need to figure out your desired results upon implementing social media into the mix. Realistically, my friends, your Facebook fan page hasn’t been implemented into Google search results. However, your website, Google Plus and other blogs have. So we leverage everything together. Check it out.
1. Get Site Listed
Taking a step back, make sure your site is at least somewhere in Google. Submit your XML sitemap through a WordPress plugin (called, conveniently, Google XML Sitemap) or even just directly through Google’s site suggestion tool. Get yourself in there somehow. None of the rest will work if you don’t.
Also, you must enact local SEO. For those unfamiliar with the SEO process, there are many great local SEO tips that work for small businesses today.
2. Create Great Content Going Forward
Content that is plausible, readable and isn’t rehashed definitely wins the hearts of Google. Using Latent Semantic Indexing, find suggestive phrases or keywords to use delicately throughout the content. Slamming keywords every other sentence is spammy and gets your site spanked back to the end of the line. Link your new content to old content, and even make a chain.
Here’s an example: Link your old article titled “Great SEO Tips” to your newer “Search Engine Optimization Questions” piece by including that very phrase within your new content. If you need an epiphany on doing this, spend about an hour clicking your way through Wikipedia starting with 1 article of your choice. Yes, you will be reading forever because their use of content interlinking is what ranks them so high.
3. Make Facebook Page=Domain Name or Keyword
Create your Facebook fan page with your user name as “facebook.com/YOURDOMAIN” or “facebook.com/yourdomain-yourkeyword”. Create your content for Facebook with similar description as your Meta Description tag and include your URL link within the content using FBML or directly onto it. Now you’ve let people who may have an interest in your wares or services know that you’re reachable through keywords.
4. Create Content With Facebook Link
Your Facebook link that has your unique keyword or name attached can pick up PR; for example, Cheerios on Facebook has a Page Rank of 6 which piggybacks off Facebook’s PR9. Therefore, in order to get rank, you need optimization, done the same way you link build. Back on your blog, you’ll want to create content that contains interlinked content and then keyword linked to Facebook profile. Not your name – your fan page keyword.
5. Engage Facebook Fans
You cannot expect 1 million people to like your product or service and not talk with them. You need to consistently engage your fans through content you’ve created, pictures, movies or whatever keeps them amused or entertained. You should even consider streaming your blog through your fan page wall. Networked Blogs is a Facebook blog feed syndicator which allows your feeds to go through your fan page wall. As new posts are written and picked up by the aggregator, your fans will see your content. Some of the top local SEO tactics from experts at Auctus Marketing include social engagement.
6. Utilize LinkedIn
If you wish to grow the most professional network for your business or entrepreneurial needs, using Linked In to the fullest can only help you. Make sure you have connected all social media accounts. Connect your blog, describe who you are, and begin to take network suggestions based off your niche or career. As time passes, you can engage with others, suggest Fan swaps, share vital information on blogs, etc. which grows your network outward to other social media sites.
Twitter is for talking about debauchery, ex-girlfriends and television sitcoms; if you want real results for social media and SEO, you need a serious network. LinkedIn provides that element of seriousness.
Let Time Run Its Course
Having created blogs that amassed PR 6 status with plenty of readership, I’m here to tell you that expecting to have your friends list immediately flock to your offerings isn’t viable. You must work hard at creating content and interlinking that content to each other, tie your content to social media, tie that social media back into your content and finally let SEO perform by itself.
Doing this will assure you’ll save money, achieve the status you wish to while growing solid readership and followings. The more you force people onto your content through black-hat or spammy techniques, the more you’ll push them away. That’s the breaks, my friends, but true.