SEO Blog

The first great but difficult thing about working in Search Engine Optimization is the fact that the field is constantly changing. Nothing stays the same in search for very long, a reality reflected in the SERPs. As the sands are continuously shifting, SEOs need to remain on top of new technologies, techniques and online marketing opportunities.

Business networking and information sharing are deeply rooted practices in the search marketing circles. When one SEO picks up on a new way of doing something, it rarely stays secret for long. A seemingly unnatural level of openness and communication is common in the search marketing sector due in part to the still relatively small size of the industry along with its youth. Search marketing is a business sector made for social media.

A quick definition of social media could read: Online applications designed to facilitate community building and information sharing through user-created and promotion of various forms of web content. There are social networks for virtually any community and interest one could think of. Built on user-participation, social networking has become both a personally charged pastime and a detail-oriented marketing device. Because content on social networks is usually developed and recommended by registered members who consider themselves part of a greater community, social networks tend to be trusted by users and spiders alike.

The social media scene has expanded rapidly over the past two years to include several extraordinary web applications that SEOs can use as tools for communication and website promotion. MySpace, Facebook, and Flickr are examples of the dozen or so largest and best known networks but there are several smaller, more focused social spaces designed to meet the information and participation needs of whatever community of interest they serve.

Article and whitepaper distribution has long been one of the strongest tools for search marketers looking to get client or company information in the public eye. Along with the general traffic driven by the appearance of an article in online publications (such as SiteProNews, Search Engine Watch or Search Engine Guide for SEOs), search spiders follow links found in the articles back to the originating site. With higher than average weight applied to links from news and information sites, using articles make excellent marketing devices.

There are several examples of social networking applications used by search marketers as promotion tools, the largest of which is, or from an SEO standpoint; was, Digg. Designed so that registered members could submit content found on the web and then vote on the merits of content submitted by other users, Digg quickly became the biggest social sharing network for written content. It provided enormous amounts of traffic and was therefore quickly used and arguably abused by many on the (ummmm…) more “cutting edge” side of the sector. Before long, other Digg users became militant about voting down anything remotely relating to search marketing or website promotion. Digg was thus rendered relatively useless for SEOs.
Two new article based social networks have emerged in the past week. One was built specifically for search marketers while the other was built to serve a more general community. Both could be extremely useful for search marketers.

The first of the two to be released was Sphinn from Search Engine Land. Built specifically for those in the search marketing industry, Sphinn has become an instant hit among search workers. Keeping a tight focus on search and search marketing, Sphinn has eight major article categories, each of which pertains to search marketing or social media. It allows members to share a lot of information about themselves and their businesses and in the sudden absence of Threadwatch.org, has become one of the main “talking boards” in the industry. An article by Rae Hoffman, “A Note To My Fellow Women of SEO” for instance, generated an extremely interesting conversation thread among Sphinn members. Clearly, Sphinn is a place to network with other search marketers while sharing and finding SEO/SEM information that is vouched for by other Sphinners. Sphinn is on its way to being one of the premier SEO/SEM education tools.

The second article based social network to be announced in the past week is DropJack from Jayde-Online. Dropjack features content across dozens of topic categories. Focusing on a more general cross section of web users than search marketers specifically, DropJack is designed to give authors and readers a place to put, find and recommend web content. Because it focuses on a wider range of interests, DropJack is a good place for search marketers to place article content for clients as a website promotion tool.

(disclosure statement: Jayde-Online also owns the webmaster news site I edit SiteProNews.com. I have helped design, populate and promote Dropjack. Just though you should know that. jh.)

The second great but difficult thing about working the social media side of SEO is the amount of time necessary to maintain a public profile for your clients, your company and for yourself. Once one starts messing with social media, the environment becomes addictive. Social profiles require constant personal management and, as the systems are based on user participation, a well maintained profile (or number of them) requires the user actually add to and take part in the social community.