I seem to have created a little controversy, in Twitter, to some of the comments of the above post.  I wanted to take the time to make it clear that I do not mean to say that Twitter has no SEO value.

Indeed, syndicated links can provide some ‘link juice’ which can be seen as a potential SEO advantage.  For those of you unaware with this concept, the idea of syndication is that RSS feeds (which do not have the ‘nofollow’ tag) can in fact be used to provide some RSS value to the links you post in Twitter.

I have made an effort over the past couple days to find a single URL that has been indexed as a result of a single syndicated RSS feed.  So while some people, as I have said before have had some varying amount of results providing direct SEO value from Twitter, it proves to be an inefficient venue.

This means that syndication of Twitter is not a widely developed idea.  It might be a great idea for someone to develop a chatter application, but even then we are limited to the potential hope that this will be picked up by the search engines.  In short, it seems like a lot of effort to propagate a link, and resources are probably better utilized if your goal is SEO.

Hope for the future?  Absolutely.  One potential, most likely move, is Twitter will begin to use bit.ly exclusively for their URL shortening services.  For those who are not aware of this relationship, bit.ly is a product of Summize, which has been purchased by Twitter.

This as I understand will have some serious SEO chops. Bit.ly analyzes all shortened URLs through Open Calais (developed by some friends of mine at a company I used to work for), and making this data available in public RSS feeds.  As Thomson Reuters, and Bit.ly, look to find other ways of presenting this content and creating toolkits for development teams through Open Calais, the possibilities could be mind-boggling.

There is a serious future for it.

That said, Twitter remains primarily a way of building your relationships online.  As an SEO tool it remains pretty inefficient.  Would I say not to use it?  Never.  Twitter is a valuable marketing tool, and its influences will grow over time.  There is no doubt about that fact in my mind.

However, I would, as a seasoned Product Manager, suggest tempering value vs. effort when pitching it as an SEO application in your organization or to a potential client.  I believe that you risk creating expectations, or potentially creating a project where effort exceeds the return.

“…does Twitter have any SEO value?”

This question came to George via Twitter last night about the value of using Twitter as a part of your SEO strategy.  Twitter is a great social networking tool to create relationships with your ‘followers’ about the activities of your business.

From a structural standpoint, Twitter creates a “nofollow” tag advising Search Engines to ignore all posted links.  While it is not primarily an influential SEO tool, it is an invaluable SMO (Social Media Optimization) tool.

Twitter and other social media tools, like Twitter, are primarily extensions for your branding and awareness strategy, which will allow you to manage your credibility as a source for influencing the generation of SEO opportunities.

From a traffic perspective, many bloggers and businesses are using Twitter as an incremental source of traffic and link juice with varying degrees of success.  Twitter’s primary benefit is the ability to create a viral marketing tool delivered to a willing audience.

Take, as an example, @ricksanchezcnn.  In July Rick Schanchez of CNN began to use Twitter as a means to communicate with and market to his viewers.  As a result he has claimed to have seen a rise in his ratings as a result of the interactivity between himself and his viewers via Twitter.

Rick Sanchez has been able to convert his Twitter activity to an increased audience.  If you follow Mr. Sanchez, you will notice that his posts are not just questions about news items.  Often times you will find him posting about his family time, or impressions of something he just saw on TV.

Social Media tools allow you to put a personality behind your brand, learn more about your customers through interaction.  When thinking about Twitter as a source of traffic, think about how your personality builds the type of goodwill and awareness into business.

It is telling how the further we stray from the corner store, Social Media has inserted those concepts and values that made the corner store the engine that drove our commercial decisions.

In short, Twitter is not an SEO tool. Twitter is one of the great online PR and marketing tools that can be used to build your brand and client base through “word of mouth” and personality.

Many small businesses do not rank high enough in the search engine results pages (SERPs) to be found. Yet, more than 70 percent of internet users start off with a search engine before they buy a product or service. To put this in perspective, there are 157 million active internet users in the U.S., and 127 million of them are active search engine users, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. Can you really afford not to be exposed to such a massive audience?

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One of the most important roles that search engine optimized content plays for your website is raising your page rank and search engine rankings. Web content writing that is informative, easy to read and easy to understand is one of the best methods of increasing your search engine rankings. While website content that is optimized for keywords leads to raising your search engine results page rankings, another major way by which content helps in increasing your page rank is back linking.

Search engine algorithms pay considerable importance to the number of back links that a site has in virtual space. Web content writing, which includes articles and blogs can be posted on other websites with a back link to yours. On the other hand, you can also allow people to use your web content for free if they provide a back link to your site. The key here is to provide content that is valuable to a large group of people. Writing blogs is another method of quickly increasing the number of your back links and increasing your page rankings.

Well the Search Marketing Expo wrapped up with an incredible amount of participants. This event and the companies participating in the search marketing arena are growing rapidly.

SMX Advanced is a venue for the experienced search marketer who wants to enjoy sessions conducted at a high-level and continue to stay ahead in the fast changing world of search. If you’re fluent in search marketing, SMX Advanced is where you can converse with others who speak your native language.

Some of the top-tier professionals in the search marketing space, Danny Sullivan, Matt Cutts, and Kevin Johnson were among the presenting professionals iterating the changes and advancements in the art and science of search marketing. SMX Advance is offered multiple times throughout the year and in varying cities. You will not be disappointed if you have the opportunity to attend.

PageRank is specific to Google.

If you are wondering how it is derived please consider the following explanation excerpt from Google’s webmaster help.

PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at considerably more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; for example, it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important.” Using these and other factors, Google provides its views on pages’ relative importance.

Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don’t match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines dozens of aspects of the page’s content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it’s a good match for your query.

Some companies live and die by word of mouth marketing. The relationships the seller builds with the client is transferred to the product or solution offered by the company. Interestingly enough, when a seller parts ways with a company the client often goes with them because the glue the relationship has binding it is that strong.

A multi-level marketing organization (MLM) counts on those relationships, established and newly formed, to build a bond from person to person. But what happens when “someone heard about the product, but didn’t have anyone to buy it from and couldn’t fin the product in stores?”

I asked that question yesterday of Jus International. Jus, as the name would suggest, offers a drink with 23 berries combined into a rich tasting concoction. Based in Boise, they have created buzz that has been heard all the way over in Japan.

So I asked the question quoted above and the answer was they’d have to search for us to find us. Search. They’d have to find a distributor. “How?”, I asked. Search.

Now those not familiar with an MLM may not know this, but a distributor is running their own business much like a franchisee. Their support materials, web site, business cards, training, etc. are created by the corporation. Distributors are prohibited from creating their own web site including blogs, etc. This makes search engine optimization on the organization’s web site all the more important. Quite frankly, if it is not found then their competitor will be,

The net of this post is simple. Regardless of your organization’s construct, scale or method of marketing, getting found is critical to your success.

Disclosure: George Seybold is the interim Chief Marketing Officer of Jus International.

Did you hear that thud? That was my head hitting the desk when I stumbled upon xRank. Microsoft has launched xRank into Beta recently. xRank is a celebrity search engine that shows the volume of search activity on celebrities.

So here is my spin.
A young professional knows how to create online buzz for celebrities. This happens on fan sites, MySpace, FaceBook, wherever, and virtually everywhere conversation happens. He / she is solely measured by the gain and the sustainability of the placement on xRank. The downfall to this job is you have to make deals with the filth that is Hollywood. The upside – wealth! This symbiotic business relationship could siphon of loads of cash from the celebrities that are lacking the skills required to own this space.

My advice – go get that money, Microsoft opened a new market just for you!

Shares in Google hit a new benchmark of $600, fueled by investor confidence that the Web search leader’s advertising technology will capitalize on new areas of the media industry.

…. From its place as the leading site for conducting Internet searches, Google has branched into Web video with its purchase of YouTube, trod on Microsoft’s turf with e-mail and other Web-based applications, and taken aim at Yahoo’s stronghold in graphical display advertising.

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SEO — search-engine optimization — is a four-letter word to some, representing the dark arts of manipulating Google and other search engines through blog spamming, keyword stuffing and other odd-sounding activities. But SEO deserves respect, and recent moves by Facebook and The New York Times underscore why it can’t be ignored.

Unlike paid search, in which marketers buy links through Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and others, SEO involves tapping into the “free” listings every search engine has. SEO is like PR for search-engine listings. You want a good review about you in a newspaper? A press release, a call to a reporter or other PR tactics can help. Want a good review in the search world in the form of top rankings and traffic? SEO can help.

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