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Lets take a look at what Google’s Future Innovations could be. Improved Image search: Google’s image search is already a popular product, streamlining the search results into a huge, borderless collection of images and speeding up indexing of images to lightning levels. It has also changed the display of a clicked-on image so that the site it comes from is more visible in the background than it used to be. This change to the user interface has brought webmasters who feature lots of images on their sites a greater click-through to the actual site. In the future, Google might make images a greater part of the search experience, following in Bing’s footsteps by featuring lots of beautiful, visual content. Google will have better filters so that you can search in a much more specific way. Google already has a little-known way of searching for images of faces only. (Simply add &imgtype=face to the URL after performing an image search.), extending this functionality to other categories such as living things (for example, plants only) and materials (for instance, wood only).

In-Video search: in-video search to Google Books, an extremely ambitious project that lets you search the text of
millions of offline books that Google has scanned. Like Google Books, video is an area that was hitherto unsearchable because there was no way to know what was inside a video without actually watching it. However, the technology to search videos has existed for a while now, and it is only a matter of time until Google releases an in-video search feature. Not only are the words of a video interesting to search through, but also the sound effects and music. Google currently employs song recognition in YouTube to prevent copyright violators but hasn’t given the public access to this tool.

Social Comments on search results:What was missing was the ability for friends (or at least trusted connections) to comment on the search results. Google’s main search product will undergo more and more personalization in the future.

Natural Language search: Typing keywords into a search box is something we all had to get used to. But technology seems to be going in the direction of making our lives more intuitive, hence the rise of touch screens and video games that respond to the motions of your body. Most people would agree that it would be great if your search engine understood you better. This is the sentiment behind natural language search, which attempts to return meaningful results in response to queries such as “What is the second fastest animal in the world?” Google wouldn’t do too well with that one because it would just register what / second / fastest / animal / world and return results about the cheetah, that mention how many seconds it takes for it to accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour. Technologists have been focused on natural language search for many years, and it is all but a certainty that it will make its debut on Google in the coming decade.

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Getting to the top of web search results on Google can pay off big for your business. One way to boost your business  is to attract online searchers seeking a service you don’t even offer.

Begin by researching which keywords potential customers use in online searches. Suppose your company only replaces parts  for products rather than doing repairs, but most of the people are searching for the keyword “repair” of those products. There maybe a potential to turn people searching for “repair” into customers. Prospects will find your website only if it uses the same terminology as they do and  testing hundreds of propositions about what will land a site a top Google ranking for a given search term.

As a example, take two important keywords “auto shop” and auto repair shop” as well as “muffler repair”. The tactics to use include building more links with sites run by “friendlies”, such as suppliers and distributors with whom you do business; adding relevant content to the home page, and improving linking structure among pages on the site.

Customer’s Lingo: It’s highly likely your prospects use at least some search terms you don’t use internally. To discover the terms your potential clients use,  brainstorm possibilities in-house and phone clients to ask how they search for what you sell. Then select “Get keyword ideas” at Google.com/adwords and enter a search string. You will see plenty of variations, with the latest monthly search totals for each one.

A Page for Each Popular Keyword: After identifying commonly used keywords, pick the most widely used ones relevant to what you sell, look for ones with commercial intent. If someone searches for “oil” ,it is too generic. But if they search for “oil removal” , there is commercial intent behind it. Create a landing page with rich content about the most popular keyword; then the second-most popular and so on.

Google’s Trust: search engine ranks pages more highly if it trusts them to deliver content relevant to users’ searches. It trusts a given page more as the page ages, provided it has links with other sites that Google’s algorithms suggest have relevant related content. By altering a page’s URL or even just changing the suffix  from ‘html’ to ‘php’, that becomes a new page, which has no age, no links and no trust. Setup a “301 redirect” for every renamed page.

Google’s Trust for the Home Page: Google trusts home pages more than other pages because they tend to have most links. How do you maximize your home page advantage by featuring lots of relevant content without compromising speed. You should run only the first few lines of each article on your home page with a “Read more”  button and the rest of the article on another page. Google indexes the entite content as if it was on the home page.

Location: Customers for a wide array of goods and services prefer to buy from a company with a nearby location. For any category in which Google figures searches are likely to care about where a seller is, it first uses the searcher’s URL to determine his location. Then a Google map is displayed on the top right of the first page of the search results showing the closest businesses matching his keywords even if he omits a location. Businesses should claim their Google Places listing.

Power of Google Places: Buy  a small Yellow Pages display ad, Google uses Yellow Pages listings as the basis  for Places and trusts them to confirm that you run  a real business. You will rank well only if you format your firm’s contact information identically in  Places and in the Yellow Pages. Also use all five categories for listing your offerings. You can also ask a few non-competing nearby businesses to add a page to their sites recommending your firm, in return for reciprocating. Google sees such “local citations”  as confirmation that a company has  a good local reputation.

Google Places and Organic Searches: Google now combines the ranking points from both so that each type of search affects the other. For any company where geography matters, it’s now essential to optimize your ranking for both.

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How people find new videos on YouTube?  How do people search for new videos? Do people search for videos by topic or type of video? Videos that display high in search results get more views. It is important to optimize videos for YouTube search results. Video search optimization is similar to search engine optimization (SEO).

YouTube searches Videos: Search online is about keywords. Keywords or phrases are entered as a search query.

Example, If people are looking for videos on golf, they might enter the keyword golf.

YouTube, then, tries to match the keywords entered by a user with those videos that best fit that query. YouTube has no
way of analyzing a video itself to determine its content. YouTube must rely on the description of the video to determine
its content. YouTube analyzes the text you enter to figure out what your video is about—and match it to the appropriate search queries. That means you need to focus on three fields when uploading or editing your video: tags, title, and description. They all matter, to some degree, and will affect how your video is ranked when someone is searching for a related topic.

Choose the right keywords: Whether it is the tags, title, or description, you need to determine the right keywords to use, and then include those keywords in all three fields, as best you can.

It’s vital, then, that you learn how to create a list of keywords that best describe your video, in the way that users will think of and search for that video. The art of determining which keywords to use is called keyword research, and it’s a key part of SEO, whether you’re optimizing your complete website or a single YouTube video. When you know which keywords and phrases that your target customers are likely to use, you can optimize the description of your video for those words and phrases.

It’s all a matter of determining how viewers search for the information they need. When you figure out the keywords they’ll most likely search for, you have the most effective keywords for your video.

As such, you probably need to come up with a combination of both generic and specific keywords. For example, if your video talks about the differences between incandescent and fluorescent lighting, you should include generic tags such as
lighting, light bulb, energy efficient, and the like, as well as more specific tags such as incandescent, fluorescent, and your company name. In this way, you attract viewers that are essentially browsing or just getting interested in the topic, as well as make yourself known to those viewers that have more specific needs in mind or are searching specifically for your company.

Optimizing Tags: there are three places where you can include keywords: your video’s tags, title, and description. What YouTube calls “tags” the rest of us call keywords; it’s just another term for the same thing. So naturally you should enter your keywords into the Tags field when you first upload your video, or later via the editing function.

Tags box has plenty of room for all the keywords you might want to target. Enter individual words with spaces in between. To enter a multiple-word phrase, enclose the phrase within quotation marks, like this: “multiple word phrase”.

YouTube recommends additional tags, beneath the Tags box. These are based on the tags you’ve previously entered and the video’s title and description. To add any of these suggestions to your official tags list, just click the tag. The tags field is perhaps the most important for optimizing your video for search; it’s where YouTube looks first. Without the right tags, great content will go unfound.

Tomorrow I will complete this post in the second part (Title, Description, embeds & links,views,comments and ratings).

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Targeting different markets offline requires separate strategies such as distinct branding and packaging, targeting different online markets requires distinct Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies for each market, you can call it international SEO.

Faces of Google search: Google geo targets search results at two levels. First, country specific portals such as Google.ca and Google.co.uk, serve as the default for users from a specific country, and return search results that are localized and tailored for their respective countries.

Then, there is Google.com within the US and Google.com abroad. Example, if you are in Canada and go to Google.com, that doesn’t  mean you will get “US”  or  “international” or “objective” search results. Rather, you will, get results that blend results from Canada and abroad.

International rankings: How foes Google decide what to include in its different search engines? Their are four main factors.

(1)Site domain: TLD vs ccTLD-  Simply put, a TLD is the extension that appears at the end of your domain name such as .com, .org etc. The more relevant your TLD is to a geographic market, the more likely your site is to rank on searches for that country.

First, there are general TLDs. These are better for ranking internationally, and include extensions such as .com, .org, .net, .edu etc,

Then there are country code TLDs (ccTLD), which are better for ranking within a specific country. Examples for ccTLDs are  .ca for Canada, .co.uk for UK and .de for Germany.

(2)Site IP address:  Search engines also consider the IP address of a site. Essentially every website is hosted on a web server, and every server has an IP address. The IP address indicates which country the server is located in. So if you want a site to rank well within a certain country, you should host that site on a server in that country.

(3)Onsite content:  The  reason “content is king” is SEO. If you are targeting different markets, you will need page titles, meta descriptions and page copy (product descriptions) that reflect the different vocabularies and languages your targeting.

(4)Backlink profile:  Targeted backlinks from relevant and related sites are a fundamental part of SEO. The more backlinks you have from related sites, the better your site will rank overall. Google also looks TLD, IP address and the onsite content of the sites linking back to yours.  Getting a backlink from a .co.uk site that is hosted in the UK will boost your rankings in the UK more than a link from .com that is hosted in the US. So the big part of ranking in a certain country is getting links from other sites that are relevant to that country.

(5)SEO with borders: You should not invest more SEO resources  into targeting a market than that market is worth. If a specific market doesn’t yield  sufficient sales to warrant investing in and maintaining a separate site, you might opt for  country specific subdomains (uk.domain.com), which offer reasonable trade-offs, or subdirectories (domain.com/uk), which are least optimal.

If you are targeting multiple markets, you will probably end up having country specific sites  for some but not others depending on the ROI it yields.

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Apart from Google, Twitter and Facebook there are other useful Search services to capture conversation. Though Facebook is the largest social networking site, its in-site search may not be the best way to see such data.

Youropenbook.org: is a simple to search and you can see what others are searching for.  It has the unique ability to search Facebook  for male and female Facebookers and is useful if you need to search on gender.

Facepinch.com: Can view the most recent searches if you need to know what’s happening at present. Its is also possible to browse recently updated profile pictures of facebook users’ names and thumbnails. You can select specific countries if you are interested in a particular geographical area. Lets you view hot trending topics and see what is being sought on Facebook with the top 100 popular search list. You can search Facebook’s 500 million network or Twitter’s network instead.

Booshaka.com: Can have  real-time look at what is trending on facebook based on open search keywords or using a specific topic. You can select from main topics like news, music, sports, politics, fashion or movies provides a stream of updates from recent accounts. Displays number of  ”likes’ and comments a Facebook post has received and narrow down the results by what’s trending and what’s popular.

Kurrently.com: is a dedicated search engine for Facebook and Twitter, but you can narrow down to see results from one service or the other. The search results continue to refresh after after you’ve looked up a word or phrase.

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You’re probably familiar with search engine optimization (SEO) tactics for improving your website’s search rankings in Google and other major search engines. But have you thought about how to incorporate social media into your search strategy? Optimizing for Facebook and search engines is benefits overall search rankings.

Facebook can be a valuable asset for search results. The volume of content and variety of places to add keyword-rich content can help you attract new Page members on Facebook, while providing more natural search results.Facebook is indexed by search engines and also has deals with Google and Bing to display social search results that include posts from your friends.

In the more general natural-search realm, a well-optimized Facebook Page can help you overtake a competitor by providing a second set of Pages (in addition to your own website) to display on the search results page. This can also be helpful when you’re looking to do some reputation management. A Facebook Page can also give you the opportunity to add a few more keywords that didn’t work as well on your website.

Places to Put Keywords:

Page name:    Your Facebook Page name or title is one of the first things both users and search engines. Create a keyword-dense title, but make sure it’s clear who you are and what you do.

URL:    You can also choose a vanity URL for your Page, which is another great place to include branded keywords like your company name. Facebook Page URLs are a large part of optimization, as content space is limited.

The Info box:    This small, 250-character box located below the Page icon is an underused gold mine for both traffic and SEO purposes. It’s one of the first things a current Page member sees when looking at either the Wall or Info tab. The keywords you use in the Info box can go a long way in search. With its prominent placement, the Info box is a great place to optimize a little info about your Page, because it’s the highest place in the Page code that allows custom text. You can even put a clickable link in there. You just need to include the http:// part first.

Keywords on Facebook Tabs:

The Facebook tab structure creates a helpful hierarchy of information and the ability to add lots of keyword-rich content. Facebook offers several standard tabs for your Page, including the Wall, Info, and Photos or Videos tabs. You can also add your own custom tabs.

Default landing tab:    Facebook allows you to choose a specific landing tab for new Page viewers. This is the first tab they
see, and its primary goal is to encourage them to click Like for the Page. It is also the first Page crawledby search engines. This default tab can be a custom tab you create, so make sure it contains relevant text that explains to both search engines and Facebook users who you are and what you do.

Info tab:  The standard Info tab has fields containing important descriptive data about your Page. It’s important to fill out all fields, as they provide an opportunity to include keywords and links for both local searches in the Location field and more general product or service queries in the Company Overview section.

Other Content:  

It almost goes without saying, but it’s important to continually share interesting content on your Facebook Page and always use all available descriptive fields on each type of content shared. Facebook allows nearly every piece of content to be indexed by search engines, so use the tabs, tools, and input fields that Facebook provides to your full advantage.

Media:   Post photos to multiple albums and include keyword-rich descriptions of the album and each photo. Every event or topic should have its own album for easier searching. Allow Page members to post their own photos and comment on or tag your uploads.

Events:  Use the Events feature for both real and virtual events. Always fill out all fields with a full description of the event, and make it open to the public.

Status updates:  There is a lot of debate about the extent to which updates help with search engines, but it’s clear that they are a big factor in Facebook searches. Take your time when planning content and include keywords; this is the bulk of what Page members will see on a daily basis.

Increased Interactions:
User interaction is a crucial yet elusive factor in optimizing your Facebook Page and improving search presence. Facebook views interactions with your Page (likes, comments, and posts) much like a searchengine views links pointing to your site. A user interaction is a vote for the content of your Page.

Facebook’s focus on user behavior and interaction extends to visits, clicks, and Event RSVPs as well. The exact weight or algorithm the site uses to calculate interaction is unclear, but the higher the engagement on your Page, the higher you will rank in Facebook searches and the more prominent your placement in a suggested search.

Encourage interaction on your Page by posting frequently and including lots of content that asks users directly to interact.

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When we search the internet many of us will use Google, the most popular search engine. Google is not necessarily the only way to find things on the internet, or the best. Very often the information Google displays will not include what you are looking for. When it’s important to find the best information on the internet the trick is knowing where to start looking,  and using other search engines.

Google became successful and the reason the results aren’t as good as they should be, Google is working out how useful a site is. Lets take an example,  there is a popular website in a specific niche and lots of people link to that site then Google thinks it must be fairly authoritative one and that deserves to  go near the top of the list of search results when people search that site on a particular keyword. This new way of deciding which sites to list first, and the indexing of  as much of the internet as possible,  put Google ahead of it’s competitors.

This popularity led to a lot of people asking owners of other sites to link to their own, or setting up ‘link farms’ where lots of sites link to each other, trying to boost the ranking of particular ones. That is why spammers sign up to forums and never write anything, instead listing their own site address in the member profile. This is why you sometimes find results on Google aren’t so relevant to your search.

There are other search engines that can be useful. More importantly, there are many specialized search engines that deal on a particular type of information. Most modern web browsers have a search box and you can usually choose which search engine they use.

What is the question?  Different search engines will provide different results, and organize them differently. Google place Wikipedia at the top of the list and has pages of information to go through. Answers.com provides a long list of information that includes Wikipedia, but also reputable sources of information such as Britannica. Bing provides categories such as Biography and Family tree, which can hep find the right information. For a good overview of facts Answers.com provided the best result.

When the question is really a question, it is worth typing the whole phrase into a search engine. Google will give plenty of solutions; answers.com will give a single answer. Ask.com will come out with similar results to Google, and Bing will provide the least  useful results.

Bing can be very useful if you are searching for a company. It will display the sponsored results and  UK customer services number, quick links to most important parts of the  UK website and a box to search within that site.

Google has an advanced search  option, and it is possible to restrict  a search to certain sites. This feature is provided by most search engines.

Search Images: Google and Bing have similar image search options. Type the words into their image search tools and it will display a list of preview pictures that can be clicked to see full-sized versions. It is possible to narrow down the results by size, colour and other options. For photos for your website visit photo sharing site flickr for images that are not copyrighted. Choose ‘Advanced  search’  and tick the box ‘Only search within Creative Commons Licensed content’. An additional option finds images suitable for commercial use. Flickr is also useful to find images taken in a particular place, since it supports ‘geotagging’ where images can have their geographical location embedded in them.

Search Moving Pictures:Clicking videos in a list of Google results will open a new page on it’s video site Youtube, so you have have to switch between sites. Bing will play a video when the mouse hovers over it.  There are links on the left side of the page allow certain sizes or quality of videos to be shown or from specific sources such as Youtube.

Right Price: Search engines can be used when you are looking to buy a product online  and searching for the best price. There are many price-comparison sites, but ordinary search engines can help. Google and Bing have a ‘shopping’ link on their front page that will help you find the best prices on a product. Search for a specific product and Bing will give links for reviews, support and prices making it easy to find the right information, the shopping link list retailers and their prices. Google’s shopping home page lists things other people have searched for. Bing’s home page allows you to browse categories.

Map Service: Electronic maps can be very helpful. It can be used to find an address, see a satellite view of an area or plan a route between two locations. Bing has its own map service,  you can type in a postcode to find the nearest station. You can also plot a route between points is simple and dragging a route with the mouse can make it go via specific places.

Google maps is useful for finding businesses- type in an address or a query. In Bing you will have to click the Find businesses link.

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SEO Translation  is localising a site to make it as visible as possible in the target language and culture and achieve higher rankings in search engines.

Companies grow by extending their product line, another way is to expand their service line to include more geographic regions. Doing so presents several challenges for these businesses and search engine optimizers who server them.

There is a big difference between making a site accessible in multiple languages and taking a business to new regions. It is useful to consider the basic organization and thoughtfulness toward how users in languages other than your own react to content and design; much more is required for those going multiregional.

Multiple Languages: Managing multiple language versions of a website and making sure localized  content appears in search results pages is straightforward,  it is just like optimizing a site. When it comes to leveraging translated content for SEO, suggestions include making sure the page language is obvious, each language is discoverable and paying attention to URL naming.

Search engines use content of the page and navigation as primary signals to determine the language of the page. So, the page content and navigation should be accurately translated. Researching language-specific keyword search volumes will ensure the terms you are using are those that provide the most value to your users and your overall SEO efforts. Another thing to remember is several dialects can be in use in the same region.

The ability to separate the site into languages or regions if similar languages, will enable the creation of language specific sitemaps that, in turn, enables search engines to discover more of the site. Interlinking the various languages  will also provide search engines with cues that additional content  is available for indexing. It is better to have a dual language speaker to translate content, automated content translation always doesn’t make sense.

Local Sense: Initial reaction may be to purchase as many relevant country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs) or internationalized domain names (IDNs) as possible, the acquisition requirements are too demanding and the investment too costly. ccTLDs and IDNs provide a strong signal to users and search engines that the site is explicitly intended for a specific country.

Most business are using subdomain or subdirectory for translated content. Example, instead of domain.in, we can use in.domain.com. One has to find out how different regions or countries abbreviate their individual languages.

While server location is a signal to search engines about a site’s intended audience, it is in no way definitive, as many websites use distributed content delivery networks or are hosted in a country (not the one being targeted) with a better infrastructure. Consider mapping a subdomain that includes translated content to a Web host in that particular regional area.

Search engines do provide a way to designate that a site is intended for a specific country. Google Webmaster Tools provides geo-targeting capabilities – all that is required  is to select the appropriate country. This feature can only be used for sites with a generic top-level domain however, such as .com or .org. Sites with country-code top-level domains such as .in are already associated with a geographic region. If no information is entered in Google Webmaster Tools, Google will make geographical associations based on top level domain (.com) and IP address of the web server from which the context was served.

The best way to inform user and search engines that a website is intended for a geographic area and a language, is to be local. Use addresses and phone numbers , acquire links from local sites, and set up local profiles through Google Places.

Avoid certain with regard to site structure or page names. Example, stay away from URL based parameters such as yoursite.com?loc=in.  Location based meta tags or HTML attributes are rarely used  for geo targeting.

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While SEO tends to be more technical (at least it is perceived to be so), social media optimization (SMO) leans more toward developing a process to establish quality relationships where trust and confidence are the aim. It can be argued, however,  that the techniques and tactics employed in each practice are universal and interchangeable. It is difficult to deny that a tremendous opportunity for profit exists when we employ common SEO best practices and apply them within our social media world.

To make the most of the current Web landscape, a formal plan is required — one that provides an understanding of the audience to which you are marketing your products and services, takes into account the quality and quantity of content you will need, and establishes measurable goals for the benefit of your business. SEO in a social media world provides you an opportunity to make a more meaningful impact on existing users and prospects than either practice alone, making your enterprise more genuine and providing the ability to explore channels that may have previously seemed walled, inaccessible and alien.

SEO Failings: Most websites struggle with SEO, and it is not just the Internet mom-and-pops. More than half of the companies had almost no natural search visibility with their targeted keywords, defined as not ranking within the top 100 natural search results. Sound similar to your own troubles? Only two percent of the domains surveyed (those associated with the actual companies) showed a significant number of their keyword terms in the top results. The worst part for Web professionals is that regular Web users are turning a blind eye to corporate social media and its real-time nature. Online marketing firm OneUp-Web’s recent eye-tracking study revealed some interesting findings about real-time and perhaps, in many respects, the impact that “social” has on search results.  Social media may have peaked and you have a perfect storm that is sure to upset the balance of promotions on the World Wide Web. It’s not off base to think that most consumers have no idea that social is making its way into search.

So how do we apply the SEO principles that we know work for generating competitive first-page rankings to social media, and vice-versa? In short, it comes down to how content is developed and shared. But first it’s necessary to discuss the basics of getting social with SEO. A common and damaging misconception is that SEO is separate from the marketing strategy of a business. In reality, integrating SEO into existing business practices is essential these days.

When it comes to SEO and SMO, reaching your objectives requires that as much attention be paid to the content you provide as to how the broader community will interact with it. Since it is the content that people will ultimately discover and share first, if you are publishing the wrong type of content, you will arrive at the wrong destination.

Content Development: Developing content-based promotions for our current or prospective audiences requires
being familiar with their behavior, those users’ preferences and how they will share and publish content within their own network and among the social graph they have established. One way is to use social media monitoring software, like that
provided by Radian6, to stay on top of conversations and the influencers who initiate them.

But you don’t need to be a creative genius to come up with innovative ideas for content. Many top e-commerce websites rely strongly on leveraging user-generated content. Amazon.com is an excellent example. Notice how strongly they leverage user-generated product reviews and recommendations, allowing them to display unique content for nearly every product, on an ongoing basis. Somewhat similar to expert product reviews, but at the category level, are buyer’s guides — informative, unique articles designed to educate potential buyers about particular product categories or industries.

What about informational and service-oriented websites? Nothing works better than an education or information section. Simply add a section to an existing website and publish unique and linkable content related to your company or the
industry it serves.

You will find when creating content that its eventual success does not always rely on the quality of the content, but how it is presented — offering it to users in creative, interesting ways. For this, you will need to take the time to brainstorm. Think of ways that you could change your users’ experiences that would be so interesting or helpful that others would want to link to your website, and/or share that content with their networks. Example: a humorous video of a pet playing with a popular toy could be embedded on a social network, sent via a Twitter update and posted on YouTube — complete with a description of the product and a link where it can be purchased.

But it’s not just the quality of content, it’s increasingly the quantity (as well as its frequency) that matters. This finding coincides with common sense: out of large chunks of business-relevant content (one post per weekday), blog readers will likely find something engaging and proceed to learn more about a company. They might even share that content with their peers.

As important as it is that content resonates with a Web audience, it won’t mean much if that content does not in some way satisfy the objectives of an enterprise. Those objectives can differ greatly per industry or by the type of site that you own
or operate, but they are routinely website traffic, brand exposure, inbound link generation or actual leads and sales. While companies have historically been reliant on SEO to drive marketing or sales, social media requires a different tack.

Multi-channel SMO: The role of SEO in a social media effort is to directly influence discovery of social communities or content via search. For example, search for a popular brand term today and it is likely you will find YouTube channels, Twitter accounts and Facebook Fan Pages on the first page of search results where negative reviews, complaints and brand squatters once ruled that real estate.

What this means is that to succeed with SEO in a social media world, we need to think long and hard about how to distribute content and create a tactical approach to user sharing. While you can foster the sharing process with tools like
ShareThis or AddThis, many companies are turning to Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect to take their communities (as well as the inevitable sharing that goes on with the right content) to a different level. These solutions, while still new, are being widely adopted and present a noteworthy opportunity to shore up support within an existing network. But what about outside of your own site — how do you ensure that your message is shared across your social graph in a way that is consistent with the original meaning and intent?

Social community platform Awareness Networks launched some intriguing multi-channel publishing features on its platform which puts content directly on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and others without the manual legwork. Often, publishers have great content to share but it needs to be managed like a corporate asset. For example, who can access certain social media channels and what kind of content can or should go there? In essence, companies looking to optimize social marketing channels face significant control issues surrounding brand image and messaging across multiple channels.

But perhaps the biggest problem with SMO is measuring the effectiveness of multiple platforms. Efforts tend to become an ROI “black hole” with no empirical data to make informed business decisions. Therefore, it’s critical that businesses set
a formal plan and utilize even the most basic of analytics to measure how each platform is performing. Should Twitter, for example, outperform Facebook in terms of generating traffic and increasing time-on-site, then efforts and perhaps budget
should be shifted accordingly. However, this would not mean that Facebook should be abandoned. Social media is a moving target.

Keyword Optimization: ne of SEO’s most tried and true practices is the use of keywords to help search engines index content. And it’s no different in the social media space. Profile descriptions and content, as well as updates to networks, should include keywords and phrases that are directly related to the content a user can expect to find after clicking a link, or reading the rest of the update. However, this is not to suggest that updates are to be keyword-stuffed. Remember that social media is intended to appeal to humans. That means using keywords mixed with a conversational tone to appeal to both search spiders and people. Anchor text in links must use keywords as well — both those links pointing to your website and to other social profiles.

Most popular keyword tools will provide information on what users are searching for, but why reinvent the wheel? SEMRush provides content marketers valuable insights into the keyword visibility (organic and paid) for any website. HowSociable is a useful tool to quickly gauge the social presence of a particular keyword or brand name but there are others (of varying levels) such as PostRank, Trackur, Social Mention, TechrigySM2 and even Google Alerts to understand the depth of presence for social media campaigns.

It could prove to be immensely valuable to know for what terms and content the competition is optimizing. Gathering that data (whether manually or through a service) at the start of any optimization process becomes integral not just to SEO efforts but also to SMO campaigns.

Generating Links: SEO’s golden child is the incoming link. While one might not think of SMO as a legitimate link-building strategy, the opportunity is most certainly there. Start by linking all of your business’ social profiles together, and to your website. This will help your brand dominate the search results pages for a branded search, as well as give users immediate options as to where they would like to connect with your business.

But the best opportunity for generating links is in your content. Social is built on sharing and that means sharing links. While, at this time, links originating from social profiles is not weighted heavily by search engines, that will likely change. The simple fact is that users are spending more time on social media and, as a result, obtaining more information from these sources. A bonus is that, invariably, high-quality social content will generate links to your website from outside the
social world, too. You can bet that just about every blogger, PR firm and news source is plugged in to social media — and they are looking for content to publish, and to link to from their own sites

By involving SEO insight in a social media marketing effort and vice-versa, marketers, public relations  professionals and advertisers can extend the value of their promotional investment. Well-optimized social media content marketing efforts can attract new network participants via search and through social networks, and facilitate links to websites directly and indirectly.