Wednesday 17 August 2011

The Effect of Social Networks on SEO: Shocking Truth Revealed

The Effect of Social Networks on SEO: Shocking Truth Revealed

By Sarah Reyes


The effects of social networks on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) have been under a great debate and scrutiny lately because when it comes to internet marketing, they are dominating the discussion. Social networks like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are some of the biggest social networking sites that are invading the world of SEO.
The Evidence...
These websites have millions of visitors on a regular basis, and that means they present raw power in traffic building and external linking.
  • Facebook with more than 600 million members
  • Twitter with more than 400 million followers
  • LinkedIn with more than 100 million subscribers
Earlier this 2011, Google, Yahoo and Bing, some of the major search engines in the world, revealed that social media links from Twitter and Facebook have a direct influence on a webpage's ranking. That was a change from a conventional wisdom, that social media links are "no follow," and that they are not building up a website's page ranking.
The Result Shakes Up the Entire Internet World...
Last year, when it seemed like there was no other site that could compete with Google in terms of marketing influence, Facebook shook up and surprised millions of internet marketers.
During the mid-part of that year, the battle tactics of Facebook made it the first ever website that could compete with Google. In November of that same year, the traffic of Facebook have risen to 60%, and Facebook's page visits recorded about � of page books and 1/10 of internet visits (Information Week).
This Year...
Today, the social networking site gives more contents to its account users more than what YouTube can give; as evidence, Facebook garnered about 24.27% page views against the 6.39% of YouTube's. (Information Week)
Comparing Facebook to search engines, the social site is providing more content than Google which gave only 4.13% and Yahoo with only.54% page views.
The Truth...
Facebookisn't a search engine so it can't offer the content that Google and Yahoo can. SEO will still concentrate on what Google and Yahoo indexes.
What this means?
Facebook is a way to market SEO through Google, and clever online marketers are already utilizing their SEO and internet marketing strategies to this new development.
Where Are Social Sites In the Scene?
At this time, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are the three giants in social networking, and that looks to be fixed sooner, as the figures above revealed.
So, how can you use these social sites membership base to work for your SEO ranking?
Define and recognize if social networks are useful tools for your business because not all companies function with the same needs.
Social networking sites are known as social media due to their social nature which is not business-oriented. Originally, their purpose is to create networks and connect people. That's their main purpose and people get disappointed off if you will push your business in the social sites.
Make friends. Be casual and don't sound too serious. This is the power of social sites, soft but powerful. Share your friends' link on Facebook and re-Tweet links from followers in Tweeter.
There are also paid options for advertising in Twitter and Facebook, but they are still mainly social sites. The only way to take full advantage of these sites power on SEO is to have your presence on them.
Bottom Line:
What functions for standard search marketing or SEO doesn't mean that it works for social networking/marketing.
The author is an expert in social media marketing. She is writing topics about Facebook, and how it can promote your online business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sarah_Reyes


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