Social SEO And The Future Of Search Engine Optimization
Editor notes:This post was published in 2011, so the information and links it may have may be out of date, or this post was made to try to predict an outcome that no longer the reality; please view at your own discretion.
Sites losing Page Rank, pages falling in the rankings and entire domains being de-indexed. We’re living in scary times, and the face of search engine optimization is rapidly evolving. Back in the day, SEO was really simple. I mean, it didn’t take much at all to rank well in the search engines. There was easy money to be made back when search engines first emerged.
All you had to do was write an article, repeatedly stuff it with keywords, and you’d rank for them. Fast forward two decades, and it got a little more complex. You had to have solid On-page SEO, lots of solid content, keyword in title, description, header tags, and lots of internal linking.
Then, you just had to throw a few backlinks at your site, and it would rank in the search engines. Ever since the Google panda update, which wasn’t too long ago, things have changed. Automated SEO tools really don’t work as well as they used to. Google has massively devalued most types of backlinks.
You used to be able to create a bunch of web 2.0 properties manually, link them to your site, and hey presto, the traffic would flood in. Google has sort of obliterated the power web 2.0’s once had; they’ve also devalued the power of article directory links. It’s quite obvious why:
These properties can easily be abused by simple bots and scripts. And at the end of the day, Google wants to put good content in front of its users. It can’t do that when people are spamming article directories, web 2.0’s, blogs, forums, and more. So SEO really is changing.
Social SEO is now essential.
Did you know that Google and other search engines are using social data to influence your site’s rankings? Here are just a few of the factors (social and on-page):
- How User-Friendly Your Site Is
- Load Time
- Bounce Rate
- Time Spent On Site
- Number Of Followers
- Number Of Tweets
- Number Of Fans
- Number Of Google Plus’s
- Number Of Facebook Comments
- Bookmarks
- Quality Of Content
- Grammar
I’m sure there are others I failed to mention, but those are some of the key factors Google and other engines have started to use in their ranking algorithm. It freaks me out quite frankly. As I have sites that aren’t full of quality content, but they get a lot of traffic and make some change. So are backlinks screwed?
No, not at all. They are still the main algorithm factor as far as I’m concerned, and they should be for a long time. But you need to stay up to date with this stuff and be ready for when the situation escalates. SEO is slowly evolving. I know from personal experience that my sites aren’t ranking nearly as well as they used to from traditional link building.
Google is really hammering down on backlinks that can be artificially created and the power they hold to influence rankings. People are even saying spun content is dead. It no longer works as Google has “figured it out”. While I don’t totally agree with it, I’m sure there’s some truth in it. So it looks like you need to spend a fortune on your off-site SEO. Seriously, people are suggesting you write and submit one unique article for one backlink.
No spinning, no nothing. It’s scary, as I can see it happening in the near future. I know I’ve seen a dip in my site’s rankings that have bad content. I don’t have solid proof to back this up, but I believe Google has developed a basic grammar checking algorithm to weed out spun content.
So what’s the conclusion?
Focus on amazing content! I don’t just mean the kind of content that passes copyscape or has no spelling/grammar mistakes. I mean the kind of content that attracts lots of natural social SEO. I don’t mean natural backlinks, as you really aren’t going to get many of those. I mean social SEO being Facebook shares, Tweets, bookmarks, and Google +1’s.
You need to focus on optimizing your site so it’s super user-friendly, has a fast load time, and a low bounce rate. You need to make your content stand out. Don’t overcrowd your site with ads. Your content area needs to be the most prominent. You also need to focus on internal linking and getting visitors to check out multiple pages. On top of that, carefully place social buttons so visitors can share your content.
The more sharing that goes on, the more authoritative your site becomes.
Quick recap:
- Focus On SUPERB Content
- Make Your Site Ultra User-Friendly
- Decrease Load Time
- Make Content Most Prominent Element
- Internal Linking
- Social Buttons
On top of all of that, I’d make sure you have a dedicated Twitter account for every site you own and a Facebook fan page. Just remember that SEO is becoming more social daily, and it really is the future of search engine optimization.
In Prosperity,
David Wood
P.S. Leave me your thoughts, comments, and questions below.
Comments
Elora
This article is a real eye-opener! I had no idea social media could play such a big role in SEO. Thanks for sharing!
Michael
This post really resonates with me! SEO is definitely evolving, and the focus on social SEO is more important now than ever before. Keep up the great work!
Sarah
Are you sure Google is already using grammar as part of its ranking algorithm? I’m skeptical. Could you point me to any resources or studies backing this up?
Lucas
This is fantastic information, but I’m curious about how we can measure the direct impact of social shares on SEO performance. Do you have any tools you recommend?
Olivia
I think the article overstates the death of backlinks a bit. Yes, they are less powerful, but they’re still relevant when done naturally. Great insights otherwise!
Emma
Hey David! Long time, no see. Just wanted to drop by to say thanks for the post. Also, how have you been? We should catch up sometime!
Ethan
This post reminded me of when I first started dealing with SEO changes back in 2012. The way things have shifted, especially with Google Panda, has been insane. Thanks for the updates!
Liam
I’ve been using a tool called BuzzSumo that helps track social shares and SEO impact. You might want to check it out if you haven’t already!
Ava
This is such a valuable post! I learned a lot about how SEO is shifting toward social aspects. I will definitely focus more on content quality from now on. Thanks!
