The latest buzz in the SEO world is about the integration of SEO and social media. We all know that Search Engine Optimization is a must for every website. No website can rank high for the targeted keywords on the search engines unless it is optimized according to the norms of the search engines.
As the main purpose of any website is to have conversions , conversions are possible only if there are visitors to the site and these visitors 80% of the time find your site through search engines. So, SEO is important and the lifeline of web marketing.
Now, the fact is that the social media sites like www.facebook.com, www.twitter.com , etc. have started having a lot of traffic as these social media sites appeal to the intellect by having business and social objectives with a micro blogging conversational platform. So, people find answers to certain queries by sharing links as well as get an opportunity to voice their opinion.
If the web traffic is found on these social media sites then it is simple marketing logic that you need to display the message about your products and services where you will get the targeted audience. If your targeted audience is on Facebook and Twitter then your company surely needs a presence there.
Once your company decides to allocate valuable time on facebook and twitter then it is very important to work out a strategy for putting forward the right impression about your company and create a valuable online reputation.
But, before that let us understand how has the search and social media started integrating with each other and how they supplement each other.
Google and Bing both have real time search results and organic search results. Organic search results have the list of sites which have been optimized for the targeted keywords. But, the real time search results are displayed from the latest posts and tweets from the social media sites as real time search is all about fresh and latest content on a certain topic, happening or event.
The netizens are always info hungry and want more and more latest content on the web. So, as the law of economics goes if the demand increases the supply also increases. All the search engines have started working on how they can roll out the best results for real time and organic listings because when we talk about real time search results from social media sites we cannot ignore the umpteen no. of links being shared on twitter and facebook.
The million dollar question is : will these shared links, comments, likes and votes have a direct co-relation to the rankings to the sites for organic search?
Well, we can get the answer to this question only once the search engines update their algorithms regarding the influence of the social graph on the rankings in the time to come. But, we as website owners and SEOs surely can keep all the options open and be in a win-win situation by engaging in social media by being a socially responsible netizen, keep in mind the theories of inter-personal relations, etiquette, ethics and develop a social reputation which will by itself give a boost to the business objectives you have.
One cannot create an identity on the social media by just tweeting quotes or retweeting famous top tweets or by following the herd mentality. Carve a niche for yourself by being unique and by sharing knowledge and information.
Sales and conversions no doubt are the business objectives but social media is not a market or a mall for displaying goods and services but a platform for interacting with each other and developing the goodwill and a genuine online reputation for your company which surely will result in recommendations and a good WOM and needless to say that in return the realization of the business objective cannot be far behind.
The more you share it shows that more you care the more you care the better you fare.
