Adam Skalak, Head of Natural Search at iCrossing UK, presents the Top Tips for Maximising SEO and Social Synergies

1. SOCIAL SIGNALS TRAINING
TOP TRAINING TIPS FOR MAXIMISING
SEO AND SOCIAL SYNERGIES
Adam Skalak, Head of SEO, iCrossing
1

2. SOCIAL SIGNALS
AGENDA
TRAINING
> Introduction
> Social signals
> Google+
> Content
> Strategy
> Stats and Future
> Tips
> Q&A
> Exercise
2

3. INTRODUCTION PLATFORM CONNECTIONS
3

4. INTRODUCTION WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?
Social Media is about people having
conversations Online
4

5. THE CONVERSATIONS ARE POWERED BY
Social is more
than just Twitter,
Facebook and
Google +
5

6. WHY DOES THIS MATTER
TO YOUR BUSINESS?
6

7. Because you are either part of
the conversation, or you are not.
7

8. HOW IS THIS RELEVANT TO
YOUR SEO?
8

9. INTRODUCTION SOCIAL AFFECTS SEARCH
9

10. INTRODUCTION TRADITIONAL SEO PILLARS
Can search
engines find it?
Architecture
Become a
Useful and engaging
reputable source
content to address the
for your content
user in their language
Content Reputation
10

11. SEARCH &
DEVELOPING SIGNALS OF SEARCH
SOCIAL
“The theory is that search results are more
relevant when they take into account one’s
social connections. Social search is paradigm
shifting. It means that who you know changes
what you get (WYKCWYG)”.
Guy Kawasaki

12. SEARCH &
DEVELOPING SIGNALS OF SEARCH
SOCIAL

13. SEARCH &
THE JOURNEY FROM LINKS TO SOCIAL SIGNALS
SOCIAL
13

14. WHAT ARE SOCIAL SIGNALS?
14

15. SOCIAL SIGNALS MIX OF KEY SIGNALS
> One-off signals > Discussion and Content signals
– Tweets – Comments
– Facebook Likes – Content freshness
Quantitative – Google +1’s
Qualitative > Share/Spread Signals > Authority Signals
– Twitter retweets – Ratio of following to followers
– Facebook shares – Mentions, subscriptions
– Google+ shares – Inbound activity
– Topics
Source: Joe Hall, 22 Media
TIP: Focus on qualitative signals
15

16. SOCIAL SIGNALS DIRECT PLATFORM CONNECTIONS
Twitter retweets Google+ shares
Tweets Google +1
Facebook shares
Facebook likes
16

17. SOCIAL SIGNALS INDIRECT PLATFORM CONNECTIONS
17

18. SOCIAL SIGNALS PLATFORM SIGNIFICANCE
Search engine market share
SEO
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media market share
18

19. The question for marketers:
Can you improve your short- and long-
term search performance by becoming
active in Google+?

20. Search ads with +1 annotations have
a 5-10% uplift in click through rate (Google)
TIP: Link up your AdWords account with your Google+ account

21. Organic listings with +1 annotations can have
a 5-20% uplift in click through rate (Search Engine Watch)
TIP: Create a Google+ Page for your business and then link your website
to your Google+ Page. Add a +1 button to your pages.

22. Organic listings with Google+ signals can increase
rankings by 20% (Search Engine Watch)
TIP: Become active in Google+ and promote your content to increase your SEO
rankings, traffic and conversions

23. The answer:
Yes - becoming highly active in Google+
is already one of many factors in natural
and paid search performance
TIP: Test, test and test

24. WHAT DO YOU PROMOTE
WITH SOCIAL SIGNALS?
24

25. BRANDS PRODUCTS SERVICES INFORMATION
CONTENT
25

26. CONTENT SEGMENT BY LOCATION
CONTENT
ONSITE OFFSITE
26

27. CONTENT SEGMENT BY TYPE
ESSENTIAL VS SHARABLE
– Product/Service descriptions – How-to’s – Reports
– Company info – Informational articles – White papers
– News, press releases and blog – Blog posts – PowerPoint
content – Interviews – Video
– Ebooks – Apps
– Infographics
TIP: Create useful, unique and interesting content
TIP: Analyse competing websites to identify popular content and topics
27

28. ANALYSIS OPEN SITE EXPLORER.ORG
Roller Coaster
Ad
28

29. ANALYSIS OPEN SITE EXPLORER.ORG
29

30. ANALYSIS OPEN SITE EXPLORER.ORG
Sony support
section
LEGO
Architecture
John Lewis
Dishwasher
Guide
HSBC
Passport
30

31. Over 10,000 re-tweets
over 2,000 Facebook
Likes
and over 1,000
LinkedIn shares
31

32. Over 1,000 re-tweets
over 400 Facebook
Likes
and over 300 LinkedIn
shares
600 links
32

33. CONTENT SEGMENT BY AUDIENCE
INFORMATION VS PROMOTION
– Existing customers – Which sites will share your content
– New customers – Who will share your content
33 TIP: Check the target sites link out and promote content socially

34. CONTENT AUTHOR CREDIBILITY SIGNALS
> Google recognises and credits the original
author
– Connect authors’ profiles to Google+
through rel=author tag
– The higher the authority, the higher articles
rank
> 1 in 5 searches already displays authorship
(Search Engine Land)
Tip: Set up your Google Author profiles and start building up authority
34

35. HOW DOES IT ALL WORK
TOGETHER?
35

36. FRAMEWORK EXTERNAL ANALYSIS INTERNAL ANALYSIS
Keyword Research Customer Audit
Competitor and Link Audit Content Audit
Network Audit Visibility Audit
SWOT
Search and Social Strategy
Roadmap
Implementation
Review
36

37. SEARCH &
IMPLEMENTATION
SOCIAL
Seed
Create
Publish and Engage Monitor
content
Promote
Email
37

38. SEARCH &
ECOSYSTEM
SOCIAL
Customer strategy
Links
Social
Twitter, strategy
Facebook &
other social Search &
content
Google
signals
+
strategy
Author signals
Google+ signals
38

39. HOW MUCH DO I NEED TO
CARE?
39

40. IMPORTANCE THE TRUTH IS SOMEWHERE AROUND
1. The percentage of your customers with a GMAIL/GOOGLEMAIL address
2. The percentage of signed-in visitors entering your site as “not provided”
All customers
Gmail
customers
“not
provided”
40 TIP: Monitor the monthly number of visitors as “not provided”

41. IMPORTANCE BY INDIVIDUAL
4,291 CONNECTIONS !
41

42. IMPORTANCE BY INDUSTRY
Source: http://simplymeasured.com
42

43. IMPORTANCE BY BRAND
Source: http://simplymeasured.com
43

44. WHERE IS IT ALL GOING?
44

45. SEARCH &
FUTURE OF SEACH AND SOCIAL
SOCIAL
> Facebook to launch a search engine
> Links will remain the main factor for few more
years
– Financial services and B2B
> If Google+ fails, Google will acquire a social
networking platform
45

46. 4 MORE TIPS
46

47. TIP 1 SOCIAL SHARING BUTTONS TIP
> Add social sharing buttons
– AddThis (http://www.addthis.com/)
– ShareThis (http://sharethis.com/)
> Customise your buttons to increase
sharing and promoting
47

48. TIP 2 PROTECT YOUR GOOGLE+ SPACE
48

49. TIP 3 SUCCESFUL CONTENT TIP
> Use the new Google Analytics Social reports to monitor what
content has been successful socially and build on it
49

50. TIP 4 COLLABORATION TIP
> Keep the teams together SEO
> Monthly planning meetings team
> Share opportunities
Social Content
team team
PR team
50

51. THANK YOU, QUESTIONS?
adam.skalak@icrossing.co.uk
51

52. WORKSHOP DISCUSSION:
How do you get your teams and
agencies to integrate and work
together?
52