#SEO, #SocialMedia, and Sandcastles

Local SEO Toolbox

Social Media is Sexy

When speaking to friends or prospective clients, social media gets all the buzz! It’s fun, sexy, and seems like instant gratification in our A.D.H.D. world.  However, I always Social start with an SEO mindset.  Before you nod off to sleep let me explain this with this analogy!

Doing Social Media without SEO is like pouring water into a sandcastle moat.  It looks good and feels good for a minute but has little enduring benefit.

SEO is like Taxes!

SEO can seem like a pejorative term at times.  Some people liken it to Tax Accounting.  There is a set of seemingly random arcane rules to taxes.  Most of us prefer root canal over doing our taxes.  The bigger your business or income is the more complex taxes become.  Guess what? If you check out the toolbox from Local Brand Manager, in SEO the “rules” are hidden to us from the Search Engines like Google.  SEO is more difficult as a result!  Just like taxes you can do you own SEO.  Unlike taxes, SEO is an ongoing daily, weekly repetitive task!  And like taxes, the landscape is shifting all of the time.  Quality professional help like the blogger outreach services by Freshlinks is worth it.  You want to work with a Digital Agency with the SEO Mindset.

What is the SEO Mindset?

The SEO Mindset is:

• How will this activity help us get found?
• Is this messaging congruent with our Brand Voice?
• Are we focused enough in our message?
• Is anyone looking for this content?
• What are people looking for anyway?
• Can I do this in such a way to obtain references? (relevant, quality back-links)

Good SEO starts with Business goals and objectives.  It then involves detailed keyword research to understand how people are searching for items related to your business.  Great SEO is always looking for was to facilitate engagement.  The marriage of SEO and social media is ideal.  Social media helps you extend and broaden your reach.  It can and should be done in such a way as to create enduring benefits.  Paying attention to how you word things (anchor text) is important.  Building track-able links using link services or UTM codes is a Pro move.  Curating your links through services such as Twylah.com is also an important strategy.

References and Engagement are the Key

There is a dramatic shift taking place in how Search Engines conduct search. Back-links were the proxy for references or endorsement.  Now the major Search Engines are bringing in Social Signals.  This social behavior is complementing, not replacing back-links.  However, the nature of back-links is also changing!  Google is learning how to read them to understand if they are “spam” or real engagement.  New School SEO is all about creating genuine engagement, not just building a link.  Effective use of social media will also help you get found by more people and be more relevant — if you do it with an SEO Mindset.  To finish our metaphor, doing SEO is like pouring a concrete foundation into your sandcastle moat.  The water you pour (social activity) can accumulate and create an enduring benefit.

Thanks to Nick Kellet for finally making me turn this into a post.  He threatened to write up my metaphor himself and credit me.

Do you have a better metaphor?  Do you have examples of how you pair SEO with social media?  Do you want to know more about this?  Please comment below!