the seo and social media connection

DanyaShea Digital Marketing © www.danyashea.com

SEO & Social Media Understanding the Fairy Tale Connection

Whitepaper Creative Commons License Granted with Citation

By Danya Shea Glenny

SEO & Social Media: Understanding the Fairy Tale Connection

1

Table o f Contents

Once Upon A Time ................................................................................................ 2

Two Digital Phenomena Fell In Love ..................................................................... 3

They Overcame Great Obstacles Together ............................................................ 4

And Lived Happily Ever After ................................................................................ 5

The End ……......…………………………………………………………………….......6


2

Once Upon A Time…

There used to be a pretty systematic science to search engine optimization. We leveraged digital research to find out what people were searching for and made sure our sites were the best place to find it. We enjoyed favor with the search engines when we showed our sites were well maintained, relevant and content-rich. The web site was the crowing glory of search results.

Then came social media and user-generated content. And that was real special. People started having important conversations online with one another…and they even let us listen in. We learned how to listen, ask questions, make meaningful comments and give our company a human face amidst the crowd.

It used to work to have an SEO specialist in one tower, social media maven in another and some sort of marketing manager giving oversight to each one as they toiled away in their corner of the kingdom. Oh! How things have changed!


3

Two Digital Phenomena Fell In Love…

Then came the day when the mighty search engines realized that people care very much about their friends’ opinions. It became savvy business for the SERPs to serve up social search results in addition to web site results. In this way, what influencers were saying in and through social media could and would show up in search results for a person’s query.

Now a searcher could get not just web sites relevant to their

search, but other relevant results like images, videos, podcasts, PDFs, tweets, Facebook Pages and LinkedIn Profiles! In addition, search queries could be made within social media applications. These could return results from within a social network and still include relevant web site results. Oh, the choices!

Searchers were happy, search engines were happy and

Internet marketers scrambled to get their client’s in on a magical love triangle.


4

They Overcame Great Obstacles Together… Savvy Internet marketers have responded to this intertwining and overlapping of SEO and Social Media with boldness and finesse. We learned to recognize that, like any famous pair, you don’t have one without the other…ya just can’t. Search engines are using social media trends and results in their ever-changing algorithms to serve up results that are more and more relevant to today’s evolving searcher. Their business depends on delivering a highly-satisfying list of results that match the searcher’s increasingly diverse, social and personal needs. Social media couldn’t survive off just broadcasting what you had for lunch today – it must continue to engage, stimulate, validate and emulate the diversity of human connectivity. For this to happen it needs great content to be shared, experienced and evolved.


5

And Lived Happily Ever After! The connection between SEO and social media is here to stay. In fact, the lines between them continue to blur and, while many principles remain, new terminology continues to develop to help businesses make the association of this growing connection. DanyaShea Digital Marketing strives to give you the information you need to make the right choice for your organization. We’re happy to help with all your SEO and social media needs. Visit our site today www.danyashea.com


6

The End Devine, J. (2010, October 18). How Social Search Will Transform the SEO Industry. Retrieved March 13, 2011, from Mashable: http://mashable.com/2010/10/18/social-search-seo/ Hollier, P. (2009, May 18). Social Media and SEO Integration | seowizardy.ca. Retrieved March 14, 2011, from SEO Wizardry: http://seowizardry.ca/The_Wizards_Blog/social-media-and-seo-integration/ Odden, L. (2011, March 08). Integrate Social Media & Search Plus Social SEO Analytics Tools - Online Marketing Blog. Retrieved March 12, 2011, from TopRank Online Marketing Blog: http://www.toprankblog.com/2011/03/integrated-seo-social-media/ Odden, L. (2008, August 01). TopRank. Retrieved March 14, 2011, from How Does Social Media Affect Search Marketing? - Online Marketing Blog: http://www.toprankblog.com/2008/09/how-does-social-media-affect-search/ Tobin, T. (2010, October 22). 4 Winning Strategies for Social Media Optimization. Retrieved March 13, 2011, from Mashable: http://mashable.com/2010/10/22/social-media-optimization/

the seo and social media connection

Business