Social Media and the SEO Revolution

SEO as we know it has always been an evolving landscape.  With each tweak of its algorithm Google sent countless webmasters back to their labs to try and find the right mix that would bring clients the most coveted SERPs.  With that background, no SEO should be altogether surprised that Google and Bing are changing the game on us again with their different versions of social search.  With Bing unveiling ‘Social Search’ and Google coming to the party with ‘Realtime Search’ and 'Google +1', the nature of web search will never be the same again. 

                The concern for SEOs is what this shake up will mean for their efforts in the SERPs.  Drawing from an interview Danny Sullivan conducted with both Bing and Google, there isn’t an immediate need for drastic changes; at least not compared to the mayhem unleashed by the Google Panda Update.  There is however a need for SEOs to begin recognizing that this trend is only going to grow once Google and Bing figure out how they want to apply the trends and links found in the social networking sphere.  Ever since Bing and Google announced they would be teaming up with Twitter it has been opined by many in the Blogosphere that Social Media’s use of links would come to affect the SERPs. 

                Now, due to Mr. Sullivan’s interview, a little light has been shed on what Bing and Google are both thinking of doing as they begin to harness the power of the social networking world.  What Google and Bing confess to in the interview essentially boils down to a few points:

·        1.    Twitter updates, re-tweets, links etc carry more weight in web search results than Facebook posts or likes.   Perhaps because it is easier to boil down the data Twitter offers.

·        2.      Links and other shared content are going to be judged by the authority of the user who shares them.

·        3.  Content shared within your own Social Network will be shown more prominently in your SERPs.

It appeared that both Google and Bing have several ideas as to how they want to weigh the input of Shared Content on Social sites.  One of which is something that is bouncing between names right now (you may have heard of “AuthorRank”, “TwitterRank” and so on), whatever it does come to be called it can be viewed as a sort of “Pagerank” for Social Media users.  This is likely to be derived from the amount of followers/friends an individual has, how many times a link is re-tweeted/shared or liked, and genuine interaction within a user’s network.  None of these items are set in stone and are only projections made from what little data Google and Bing choose to share.  However, these projects are not far-fetched when one considers the mindset typically employed at Google to ensure they remain the top Search Engine in the world.

One thing that is certain for SEOs is that Social Media sharing is on the horizon and approaching fast, and must be considered an absolute necessity for any SEM campaigns you’re launching.  Also, it brings the focus back on generating user friendly content.  By creating engaging pages and posts, SEOs can hope to capitalize on individuals sharing this content within their own ranks, be it private or professional.  In anticipation of this coming event, SEOs need to begin building up contacts on the various social networking sites in order to reach as wide an audience as possible to gain the maximum advantages these new algorithms promise.

In the end, it appears that content will be the name of the game going forward, which likely means we can expect Matthew Inman like inbeds, Top Ten Lists, and of course cute cat pictures will be dominating the SEO discussion boards as ways to garner major impacts on site SERPs.

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Next Up:  Google +1