Companies should incorporate social media into their search engine optimization (SEO) strategy With a growing number of people using sites like Twitter, one expert says it’s not enough for a company’s website to be search engine optimization (SEO) friendly, it must also be social media friendly.
In a post on the Online Marketing Blog, Lee Odden writes that many companies lose out on sales because their websites are not properly optimized and therefore perform poorly in searches, but he says a lack of understanding for social media may also be hurting them.
Odden says that because so many people share and find content using social media like Twitter and Facebook it’s important for sites to make sure that their content is engaging and fresh.
“Content creation and links that occur as an outcome of social media participation can provide positive signals to search engines and affect search visibility,” he said. “Making a site more social media friendly will expand the opportunity for content to be discovered directly and indirectly.”
One of the ways to make content social media friendly, according to Odden, is to make sure material stays fresh since he says search engines and the users of social media sites tend to favor frequently updated material.
Some experts also say it’s important to write search engine optimization (SEO) content that’s geared toward people and not just search engines. In writing for Econsultancy earlier this year, Kevin Gibbons said that saying the purpose of SEO is to get to the top of a SERP is “like saying the purpose of cooking is to heat meat, rather than eat it.”
