Finally Google seems to be achieving the much needed stand on social media via Google+ . Google is very much focused on search and according to me the Google+ initiative is mainly aimed at enhancing the quality of search results which is very much affected due to the mal practices because of link building and content spamming.
On a wider perspective Google is trying to converge all the data from other Google owned platforms on Google+ and all these signals will finally affect the search results.
When social media signals got integrated with search , SEOs left no stone unturned to prove to their clients that having a social media presence is of great importance. But, it is not only the presence but a presence which reflects authority and trust for your business online.
Authority, trust and Goodwill cannot be bought it has to be earned. Hence every digital footprint you make on the web is adding up to the Halo of the overall aura that your online presence is creating.
2012 is going to be a year of the Greatest Challenge for the SEO industry. In 2012 the trust and authority of an online presence and all the UGC (User Generated Content) for that online presence is going to gain prominence and priority . All the SEOs who made hay while the link love sun was shining are going to get a reality check as in the long run only those natural links achieved as a result of the valuable contribution are going to have the multiplier effect for the online presence.
Website owners please do not assume that your SEO company has some magic wand and just because you have signed an SEO contract and are willing to pay a big amount for the SEO services you will start getting unlimited traffic to your site and your business is going to start getting unlimited inquiries.
If you do not have a good product even if you have a good presence on the search engines your business is not going to improve as you may get the inquiry but to finalize a sale your product and pricing has to be highly competitive. You need to work hard on your product and the display on the website, share the information on social media, create a persona for online queries , create an authority and trust factor for your online presence by meaningful engagement and then as a result of course whatever effort your SEO has put in for on-page factors, technical issues and other off-page SEO factors will work in your favour.
In fact I appeal to the website owners to take ownership of their digital presence by taking interest in what their SEO is working on. At least one person from the organization should be in regular contact with the SEO for knowing how their online presence is improving.
SEO is like establishing your business online and whatever factors apply in real life to establish a business are also applicable to the online presence . The SEO just tries to help you to highlight these factors and makes it possible for the search engines to record it in their index to influence better search presence. Just like in real life you need to have an attractive sign board, a good product, a competitive price, good WOM, efficient sales people, etc. which help in improving your business . Google also tries to find such signals via many platforms and metrics. The social media buzz and the UGC generate your digital WOM, your website content reflects the product details and company ethics, The Time On Site and the bounce rate indicate the interest level of the people in the products, the online sales indicate the acceptance of the product and pricing, etc.
Just as establishing any business in real life takes a lot of effort , hardwork and time similarly SEO also take a lot of effort and time to start accruing results.
In December 2010 , on our blogpost for SEO 2011 http://blog.webpro.in/2010/12/seo-and-online-presence-in-2011.html we had mentioned the following factors playing a vital role for 2011:
- Have great content on your site
- Have a social media presence
- Engage and interact on social media establishing an individual and business persona
- Have a blog with a focus on your main line of business which you keep on updating regularly
- Participate in conversations of your topical communities
- Take guest blogging seriously
- Do not ignore the Local Search
- Go mobile
The overall aura generated from all these efforts put together will create your online brand and identity which in turn will reflect on your current and potential online business.
The search engine bots will measure all these signals according to the algorithms which the programmers have worked on, the online visitors will make judgments on the basis of what they read on the various platforms about your business and your ROI and social media mentions and comments will give you the answer to where you are heading to on the web world .
All put together SEO is going to emerge as Web Presence Optimzation rather than Search Engine Optimization maybe we need to have a new term for SEO as in order to reach the search engines and SERPs, first you need to have an over all presence on the web
All the people who have worked on these issues in 2011 qualitatively will be the beneficiaries as Google can measure all these digital footprints more efficiently now with their updates in algorithms and the gradual convergence of their technologies on Google+
The competition is becoming tougher as the aggregate of your overall online presence is going to decide your trust factor and authority factor and thereby the search presence on the search options.
Though the future seems to be challenging I am just in admiration of all the changes and updates made by Google in 2011 to fight content farms and link spam because finally one can easily fore see that only those SEO companies working on SEO in its true perspective are going to survive and the grain will be sieved out from the chaff.
Google+ is not only a social media platform it is going to be the consolidation of your overall online presence quantifying your online personality.
I personally just love this video which very effortlessly shows the seeds of the convergence being laid by Google.
Google+ is not only a social media platform it is going to be the consolidation of your overall online presence quantifying your online personality.
