This week we've got a quick and dirty Whiteboard Friday about how to make use of all of those social media profiles you've been building.
The trick: don't let them sit idle! You've got to network them a little in order for them to do you any good (read: links and rank).
SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday-Getting Value From Social Media Links from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.
As a quick example, let's take a look at one of the sites from our social media directory - maybe... simpy.com. If we wanted to create a profile page there that would earn some link juice and ranking ability (and possibly pass some good juice back to our domain), here's the fairly standard procedure. BTW - I'll use the example of Mike, who's trying to help his taco blog - https://tacohunt.blogspot.com/ - rank for "mike's angry tacos." I just pulled it at random from the web, but it should work fine:
Step 1: Check to see if their pages get indexed
It seems obvious, but many times social sites might nofollow links to users' pages or they simply might not have enough link juice to make the user pages important enough to get into the engines' indices. We can use a simple search query like inurl:www.simpy.com/user to see. In this case, there's 778,000 results, so it looks like they're getting indexed pretty well.
Step 2: Create an optimized account
If I'm trying to promote https://tacohunt.blogspot.com/, and I want it to rank for "Mike's Angry Tacos," here's a good, optimized account:
I've got my user name as "mikesangrytacos" and my real name as Mike Angry-Tacos. I know, real creative, right?
Step 3: Participate Constructively
I might have a live link from my user profile page and even have a decent account page, but I'm going to need to contribute positively and effectively to the site if I want to build up enough internal link credits and karma to get this page into the search engines' indices. So...
- I start by uploading my browser bookmarks. I've now contributed 103 tags and pages to simpy, all of which will now have a link back to my profile page (although they're not particularly relevant to my goal since most of my links are SEO related).
- Next, I find some relevant groups to join by performing some searches for related topics like "food," "tacos" and "mexican." I found 3 relevant groups about recipes, cooking and food, so I join them - now I have links from each of those groups back to my profile page as well
- I find some popular tags on the tag page and start adding some of my links to those categories, which means I'll have my user profile linked-to from those tag pages (and they're only 2 clicks from the home page)
- I find some popular users, listed on the people page and identify items and groups we have in common and start sharing those items and joining their groups
- I go to the tag pages and find links that I like and add them to my account - now I'm listed on the pages for those links and become a "related user" to the people who've also chosen to bookmark those links
Step 4: Come back and consistently use the site
I'm not conducting a real campaign, so I probably won't do this, but if I wanted to, I'd install a simpy bookmarklet and try to tag a few new pieces of content every day for a week or two and add some groups and watchlists to my account. With time, I'd become a more popular user on the site and my account would be considered more important. As an experiment, though, I'm just going to leave it as is and see if Google picks up mikesangrytacos over the next couple weeks.
No results yet, but we'll try back in a couple weeks.
This process varies from one social site to another, but the principles are the same - creating good, useful, non-spammy accounts and connecting with other users and popular sections of the site in relevant ways. The more you add value to these sites, the happier they are to have you contributing, even if you're there mostly for marketing or SEO reasons. After all, a few hundred SEOs tagging content on their site in good ways is going to make them a better resource in the short-term and probably get more good content on their site that will bring in search traffic and visitors - it's a win/win!
Aside from being active within the community, the most important thing from this WBF that I hope everyone picks up on is the live referral traffic. Don't let green pixel myopia rule your online activities -- think with your head and heart, not your PageRank.
SMO/M should be about participation, connecting & communicating with your target audience (relevant and shared interests), showing interest & thought leadership, building brand identity (even if that is a brand of "you"), and builing a point of connection between you (& your site) and the community at the social venue.
That point of connection doesn't just have to be PageRank focused. Amazingly enough, real live people still click on and follow links. And most people don't really care whether they are no-followed, or from a blocked or secure section of a site.
My LinkedIn profile page has a PageRank of 3. My SEOmoz profile page is grey barred. In the end, it doesn't really matter whether either accrues or passes PageRank or link popularity -- sure, it is great if they do, but doesn't change my interaction on the sites. Both (and many more) are important places to be involved and to communicate & connect with others. Both send traffic to my sites.
What Rand mentions about checking referrer logs is so important. Whether it's AWstats or Google Analytics, seeing which sites drive traffic is something that is all too often missed.
As for the list, I agree that the sites may be different for everyone. As a short overview though, I'd look for:
I think it bears pointing out that Google will most likely start frowning on this behaviour at some time, if they don't already.
Think of it from their pov. What in terms of quality have you added to your taco site? How has your taco site become better? Are you more of an authority? The answer to all these questions is no, yet these are the questions that matter to Google and their rankings (in the scenario they strive for). In fact, one could ascertain that because you are spending time on all these social networking sites, that you are actually doing LESS to make your site the best possible one out there. Now that would be a novel approach for Google to take!! :)
I'd say this is going to be a short term tactic and should only be pursued for branding purposes. Good tactic any way you approach a serious business anyway. Might work in the meantime though...
SamIAm -
What If you aren't an SEO? (AKA Spammer to Google) What If you are an electrician, and your username is ProElectric and you have a website about electrical wiring. You join groups that are related to your interest, and comment on issues that you have an opinion on.
You might not even know what SEO is, but you've been doing it organically. Google doesn't want to penalize That kind of activity does it? Between nofollow, and general link stinginess eventually they won't have any links to use as ranking criteria if they do.
I would guess that the key is going to be to make what you do as an SEO look just like this - so that it's really difficult to detect algorithmically.
On second thought, the real key is probably to actually make a contribution, and not be spammers. Then we probably won't be treated like spammers - by Google or anyone else.
Great point!
(sorry if my comment looks spammy, is that is just a good point).
Ok, ok. I have to admit that I neglected the social media part of my campaign. After reading your post, Rand, I’m going to take it most seriously.
As an additional reference SlightlyShadySeo did a very good post on that a few days ago: Social Media Power: Success Without the Frontpage I referred to myself as I really find it nice.
This is a good post, something I've been doing now for a while, mainly for branding purposes than exploiting links, but I'm sure I can push a little harder for links ;)
One thing people need to remember is to make sure your account is spam-free, don't add 500 friends in a day and don't comment on 500 stories with 'Great Post!'
I'd go with Nick's comments - a list would be great. How to conduct an audit of your social media penetration would be cool too. We're working on this at the moment.
Rand, while people are saying it was light, IMHO it was something that did EXACTLY what I wanted it to do, spark a light under my butt to remember to do this not only for myself but for more of our clients as well who should be doing this.
The tactics are coming to me pretty quickly, but once in a while a "concept" post like this that is not so heavy on tactical tips is valuable. Thanks! now I got more work to do.
Hi Rand thanks for the information. I have a couple questions:
I might be confused. If you are trying to rank for: "mike's angry tacos" and your user is: mikesangrytacos. Is this profile going to start competing with your main Site? How to go about the use of keywords on different profiles/accounts to avoid keyword canibalization. Thanks
I'm of the general opinion that since A) the profile pages are linking back to your site and B) the profile pages aren't generating nearly as much link juice or attention as your main site (or else you don't have a very good site!), it's not generally a concern. I do it more to fill up the SERPs with profiles/pages I control and to provide some relevance to the engines and to potential users who might be on those sites and interested in angry tacos from Mike.
A verry good whiteboard friday again! i love them.. This is for me a good excuse to spend some more time on those sites again :D
Good whiteboard Friday Rand. Social Media is a powerful medium that needs to be exercised fully and continuously.
Just one question. I constantly hear about exchanging links and how SEs don't fall for such tactics. Rand, isn't this what you are advocating in the video?
BTW, I hope everyone is watching the NHL Finals right now. What a game!!
SMX Advanced...12 hours and counting.
This is an old video, but still highly relevant! Essentially, it's important to connect with others to give your social page more prominence. It's funny how little things have changed! Now this should be applied to Google+ in addition to the others.
Excellent "White Board Friday" - I always look forward to the videos.
That is some really valuable information. I really believe this article has a lot of information that could benefit any SEO company. Having other sites back link you is one of the biggest ways to attract attention to your page, and by using social media links it allows you to so easily. I truly believe this is a really nicely written blog and I look forward to reading more of your great work!
Helpful information Rand. You've heard of GroupThink..how about GroupLink ;)
Howdy all. I'm new to SEOmoz. Can't wait to hit all the blogs.
FYI - You can get rid of that shadow being cast on the white board by having a backlight - specifically a light behind Rand, pointed at the whiteboard.
While I think this weeks Whiteboard Friday was a little on the weak side, I like that it was done. There have been a lot of questions floating around the office with some of our newer SEO's about social media and how to find the value in it. I was able to pass this on as a small refresher for all those still feeling a little uncertain.
Yeah - I was feeling a bit guilty about the lack of content in the video, so I added the example of how to do it in the text of the post below. Hopefully together they're worthwhile.
i created my account on digg on May 27th, 2008 and the user name is aryansharma now see this https://www.google.com/search?q=aryan+sharma&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enIN259IN259&aq=t
its on the first page in google results. its really nice :)
good whiteboard Friday.
Regarding a list of social links, I think guys that it would depend on your activity and on the people you will get in touch with. Or is it just spamming then ?
Nice Information as usual... keep it up
Thanks
Great tips. What social media sites to you recommend most for this? Are they all relatively as good or do some pass more juice then others? Or is it just a matter of how active you are with the account you're using for the site?
Nick - we've got a whole list here - www.seomoz.org/social-directory of 100+ social sites where this is possible.
To set expectations can you add (PRO) to the end of links that are pro member only access? Yes, I know it's time to pony up but it would save the disappointment on clicking through to only be denied.
Thanks
Thanks Rand. I was jut wondering if there were any of the 100 that would be better to start with. macz_g, try out the pro services for a month and see how you like them. I think you'll find that you stay after you join. That's what happened to me. I wasn't going to stay on for long but then they added the Q&A are and that added tremendous value. Give it a shot for a month. You'll honestly have nothing to lose.
The best ones to start with would be the ones who's topics are related to your site.
Great Nips! Was it cold in there? Just kidding. Great stuff as usual!
Hola Rand,
Welcome back.
Good pep talk, now all I have to do is get off my duff and spend more time on the computer ;-)
See you all at SMX Advanced.
I was hoping for something a bit more detailed on this Whiteboard Friday. How to build a strong network. How to create a 'personality' for your company. When are the best days or times to post to specific social media sites? Which themes seem most popular on which social media sites? What should you definitely avoid on social media sites? Should you remove advertisements or specific types of advertisements for visitors coming from specific social media sites? How often can/should you shout (or other social media site equivalents)? Is it better to setup multiple user accounts for specific social media sites or should you have one account that several internal people use for all submissions? What are the trade-offs?
I didn't thumb it down because it wasn't bad but I was just hoping for a lot more specifics.
Maybe I need to move to Madrid?? ;-)
Brent D. Payne
Brent - there's two great articles Jane put together on these subjects:
social-media-optimization-strategies and viral-marketing-and-linkbait-on-the-web
I read those killer documents a few months ago and made sure others saw them as well. I guess I was looking for more information along those lines. It's those documents that make me an SEOmoz fan.
Brent D. Payne
Thanks for the nice post Rand. I also believe that socializing is the key to achieving maximum awarness and more search engine love when submitting to social media sites.
Cheers
Great Whiteboard friday! Very informative.
Are there any of the major social media sites that you don't recommend doing this?
Good post and good whiteboard friday!
I am sure the social linking would benefit a small business or company, but could it really have an affect on a larger company that has been around for awhile? Would it really help this sites page rank if it mid-high competitor in its industry?
Great music by the way lol! The techno really got me pumped for the whiteboard presentation! Do we get to hear those awesome beats every week?
Yes, that is the current Official Whiteboard Friday Theme Music (oontz-oontz).
Thanks Rand, that list will certainly come in useful :)