subject: Search: From shrinking violet to social animal [print this page] Traditionally, SEO has been a site centric discipline concentrating on increasing website rankings. In a text only web the focus has been to develop the most relevant site (On Page) with the most popular content (Off Page) in a text only web. The web is no longer text only it is interactive and multimedia. All of a website's digital assets can be searchable including video, voice, images, gaming and sound. Social media provides real-time information and social interactions that build online advocacy and enhance brand reputation. Brands must adopt a holistic approach to SEO in order to promote themselves on search engines. Media Contacts recommends 6 initiatives that a brand can make to remain relevant and popular within the search engines.
Change 1: Merge social search and social media
Search is rapidly becoming social. Rather than using Google to search, someone might search on Facebook and blogs instead. Search engine rank is now significantly affected by social relationships. Facebook provides search results to their users that their friends follow. A brand will appear higher in the listings if the searcher's friends are following that brand. Google takes this a step further using relationships to promote content in search engine listings. If someone in your social circle has written a piece of content, commented on a blog or follows a brand, this information is analysed and ranked based on your social circle. Social media must become an integral part of any search strategy and search and social cannot be executed in silos.
Change 2: Take advantage of real-time search
Live content across all search engines is appearing on popular search results. For example, news websites with real-time content appear high in search results because it is relevant and topical now. If the conversation is about something a business is associated with your industry, your product or your brand you need to be part of it in real-time. Otherwise you lose the opportunity engage in the conversation. It also provides a good opportunity to use SEO in a promotional sense. For example, Magners integrated their social media into their website to benefit from social conversations. The campaign went viral and their search rankings increased from position 12 to 6 in Google, for cider'. So to take advantage of real-time search you must create content that is relevant and topical and syndicate it to relevant conversations.
Change 3: Target long tail terms
Consumer's searches have expanded beyond one and two word phrases. Google can now index more than 3 word phrases. Google is therefore becoming more sophisticated in looking for
the closest relevant exact' match. For example Google will provide high rankings for websites for someone searching on flights to Majorca from London' where they closely match the phrase. SEO keyword strategies must focus on more than generic terms and groupings as websites can no longer rely generic traffic alone.
Change 4: Focus on your website usability
Traditionally, visitors to a website do not browse the entire website. There now needs to be a greater focus on website usability to increase visitor dwell time, as well as increasing search engine ranks and most importantly on-page conversions. This means expanding your on-page SEO strategies from keywords and tags to usability and buttons.
Change 5: Optimise your syndicated content
For content, your digital assets can live outside of your website in spaces such as Facebook, news portals, YouTube and Flickr. All these assets outside of your website link back to your website. In return it boosts your credibility in search engines. You need to make sure that these off-site assets are not forgotten as they have a bigger indirect affect than is first apparent.
Change 6: Get your website ready for online TV
We now watch TV, listen to the radio or read magazines while we're online. There is a rising trend of media multi-tasking. One to watch out for is Google TV which is set to launch in the UK by 2011. This new platform will fully integrate TV and online browsing. For example, consumers can watch their favourite sports while being on their teams' website on the same TV screen. This means that websites will need to accommodate this change because the traditional website on-page structure is not built for TV screens. A website's resolution needs to be expanded, colours need to be changed and usability needs to be improved.
Overall, SEO is rapidly changing which means that a website's SEO must accommodate these changes in order to rank high, stay competitive, engage in conversations and increase conversions. Be well versed in the changing landscape of the search and social and you can future proof your search engine rankings for today and tomorrow.
