3 Ways To Use SEO On Social Media

“Usually when companies say they want to get better at social media, they really want to get better at SEO (Search Engine Optimization),” says Manny Sarmiento, CEO of NMX2 and President of Doral Chamber of Commerce.

Manny is one of many professionals that have discovered the power of using SEO on social media to improve your page rank, recognition, and reputation. SEO is what guarantees that when a customer needs to find you, your company, or your product/service – they can.

Here are 3 ways to use SEO on social media:

1. Consistent About Me's. The way Google works is simple. If Facebook says you’re the “Digital PR Pro,” Twitter says you’re the “Digital PR Pro,” and Blogger says you’re the “Digital PR Pro,” Google thinks you're the "Digital PR Pro." This creates consistency between information and keywords and allows Google to choose the most “relevant” search result.

SEO Suggestion: Have two types of bio’s for your social media. One should be the full version where you go into detail, while centering your bio on your personal keywords. The other should be the full version summarized to 140 characters for networks like Twitter, Blogger, and other social networks that have a limited About Me section. This one should start with the value you offer worded into 2-5 words and include all of your personal keywords.

2. Personal Keywords. Lon Safko, author of The Social Media Bible, says keywords are the most important criterion that search engines examine. I like to categorize keywords into two sections, personal keywords and content keywords. Personal keywords are the tags that identify your personal brand. What are you trying to be known for? What is your niche? What do you offer? How do you offer it? What is it for? These are all questions that keywords can answer without having to explain yourself to the consumer.

SEO suggestion: Be specific and use something people actually search for. If a keyword is too vague, you might not accurately answer the questions mentioned above or you might be up against too many other websites for Google’s rank. Using the Google Keyword Tool helps you find out how often a keyword is searched for. One way to use these keywords are to include them at least three times in every blog post, Youtube video description, or written material. Maybe even #Hashtag them on your bio’s.

3. Keyword specific links. Your domain name isn’t the only thing that’s part of your link, post/page titles also make up a url!

Pop quiz: When someone searches for “Ways to use SEO on social media,” which link will Google consider more relevant?

A. http://viraltalkpr.blogspot.com/wor03i0

B. http://viraltalkpr.blogspot.com/2013/08/3-ways-to-use-seo-on-social-media.html

That’s right, the answer is B! Why? Besides the fact that your title is coming up on the link, making it seem like the page has the exact information the searcher needed, it also has a date in the link that lets Google know that this information is still relevant and up to date.

SEO suggestion: Make sure all your permalinks have the title of your post in the link. Even your social network url’s should have to do with your keywords. That way when someone searches your name, company, product/service, all your pages will cloud the first page – Nice!

          

These 3 ways to use SEO on social media give you a few ideas on how SEO combined with social media can improve your page rank, recognition, and reputation. Now that you know some Do’s, here are some Don’t’s:

• Don’t flood your social media with keywords that you can’t find on your page or that have nothing to do with your product/service.

• Don’t pay people to spread your links. It’s illegal and it doesn’t have a real impact on engagement, recognition, or reputation.

• Don’t forget to put keywords in your file names and file descriptions.

Eduardo Lopez is a Public Relations professional, writer, author, and public speaker with more than 5 years of digital communications experience. He is the digital communications manager at LS Media Group, LLC and founder of ViralTalk PR. Add him on LinkedIn or follow him on twitter.