Thunder SEO

Alright, so the word’s ‘limited exposure,’ and ‘limited band-width’ used to come into play when I thought about Social Media marketing campaigns. Facebook and Twitter were parts of a world I “just didn’t have time for.” As an SEO’er I know the value of Social Media. On a business level, it’s a way to get to know your customers needs. You can also come across information a bit quicker than you might otherwise have done via other sources.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid this for very long, and I’m okay with it. My problem was my unfamiliarity with Twitter. Nearly every time I started sending tweets I’d find myself reading other Twitter-folks’ tweets. Then I thought to myself, this is like the Dance of the Seven Veils!

• Veil Two: Who should I follow?
• Veil Three: The following/follower etiquette…
• Veil Four: What are #Hashtags?
• Veil Five: Who and what should I be listing?
• Veil Six: Am I sending too many tweets?
• Veil Seven: Retweets?

Okay, just breathe.

Concentrating on the big picture is what I needed to do. Go slow, and it will all work out. All the extra nuances, the ‘Veils of Twitter,’ will surely become clear to me. Each ‘Veil of Twitter’ plays its own special part, adding one on top of the other until you find yourself immersed. I fought it. I did. No, I really did. There was a true denial playing on my part.

It is alluring though. I found myself drawn, yes, drawn. And then, not so suddenly, the day came, yes, it was here. I needed to do more than just dabble in the Social Media foray, but how fortunate am I? Having a team of awesome ‘Social Media Experts’ here at Thunder SEO to answer questions, and explain what I’m doing, is great! They sent me this link to help…and it does.

Of course there’s also the Twitter 101 – A Special Business Guide, but I’m a guy, I don’t read directions!

Last week Matt Cutts posted a video response on the Google Webmaster Central Channel to the question, “How do you rate links from new platforms like Twitter, FB to a website?”  Along with clearing up any mis-perceptions about for how long he’s staying “bald” (see why), Cutts gives the low-down on how Google treats links from Facebook and Twitter, as well as links from .Edu and .Gov sites.

As Cutts explains, “We [Google] use Pagerank so we know how ‘reputable’ the site and inbound links are.” This re-iterates the importance Google places on the quality of a link versus the sheer quantity of links, with the Pagerank (of the linking url) being the definitive indicator of a particular link’s quality.

As for Facebook and Twitter, Cutts further explains that Google can only fetch a link if the site is public where Google can crawl it. For Facebook, many profiles aren’t public; while for Twitter, most links are nofollow (which makes sense given the enormous potential for spam if Twitter offered dofollow links).

In addition, Cutts commented, “We treat links the same from Twitter or Facebook or platform or website…just like we treat links from wordpress or Edu…a link from an Edu won’t carry more weight.” So there you have it — previously coveted links from .Edu and .Gov sites are not more highly valued than links from other domains. Again, the important indicator is the url’s Pagerank (or “authority”).

For many, this is not news but it’s always helpful to hear clear statements such as these from Google.

Has your experience with links from Twitter and Facebook, as well as .Edu and .Gov sites, been consistent with what Cutts describes above? Do you agree with how Google handles these inbound links? Please share your thoughts…

So you finally signed up for this “Twitter” thingy you’ve been hearing so much about on CNN, and now what?! Who do you follow? What do you Tweet about? Who’s going to care about what you have to say anyway? Relax. Twitter is a huge neighborhood with a niche community for everyone. Yes, it’s true that you shouldn’t only Tweet about what you had for breakfast (yeah, there’s a #hashtag for that), but don’t be afraid to share a blog post you found interesting or your thoughts about  the new restaurant on the corner. Keep in mind though, people don’t respond well to self-promotion. Instead of broadcasting your daily activities or your company’s special offers, make Twitter a place to build relationships with the people and profiles in your space.

In early 2009, Twitter launched Twitter Suggestions to facilitate activity on new profiles. According to founder Evan Williams, “The reason we created this feature is because lots of people sign up to Twitter but aren’t following anyone, so we’re trying to help get them started.” The last page of the sign up process automatically directs you to a list of 500 profiles you “might” be interested in, and allows you to follow all 500 with the check of 1 box.

At first glance, this seems like a great feature. Some of you might be thinking “Wow, now I can follow all of these great updates from Shaq, Starbucks, and look, even The White House is Tweeting these days!,” but this process seems to threaten the organic nature of Twitter. When Twitter first gained popularity, people starting following profiles they were interested in. So whether they were getting updates from a frustrated roommate or tweets about the best cable service provider deals, they were following these profiles because the Tweets were providing value. Does following these suggested profiles make people Tweet more? Probably not. Do the suggestions promote a give-and-take community approach? Nope. Are these profiles going to follow every Joe, Jim & Sally back and “ReTweet” their posts? Never.

Don't Make Homer Facepalm by "Following" Twitter Suggestions!

Here are a few reasons Thunder SEO doesn’t suggest ‘Twitter Suggestions’ when implementing your Social Media Marketing Campaigns: Read more

We all know that Google ranks inbound links as a powerful “vote” for a website. We also accept, generally speaking, that the more quality inbound links a site has, then the higher its page rank, keyword rankings and resulting traffic. With the rise of social media, we are also learning that Google values the diggs, tags or votes a site receives on social media sites. Aside from just the inbound links, traffic spikes and “netizen” awareness that social media sites can generate, they also have a direct impact on Google rankings. Read more