SEO, Social Media Skills

Guest post by SEO Professional Corey Creed.  Corey blogs at The Jungle Map and teaches Internet Marketing Classes. Find him on Twitter at @CoreyCreed

To start with, thank you to Jason for letting me do a post on his site about Search Engine Marketing (SEM). I appreciate the opportunity and always enjoy our conversations, Jason. I hope everyone will take a moment to read Jason’s post on my site as well.

Below are a few points that I think Social Media professionals need to know about Search Engine Marketing.

1. Search Engines are for finding things

Sounds obvious, right? But it is a huge difference between social media and search engines. The reason we use search is to find. In other words, we are looking for something. People do not want to be on Google. They use Google to get to where they really want to be.

If you are into social media, you need to realize the difference. The attention you attract to a business or website in social is like talking with your friend about a product. Search is more like walking into a store and asking a store clerk about a product. There is a different intent.

2. Search Engines are all about Keyword phrases

If you work with social media, you likely have your own blog. (See the next point.) If you are writing, don’t sabotage yourself. You’re already writing. Why not use the keywords you want to be found for in Google? To be even more specific, do yourself a favor and use the Google AdWords Keyword Tool and figure out which phrases get typed into Google. Then use them from time to time, especially in the titles.

3. Search Engine love blogs too

Many of my friends that are into social media will all say that the blog is the center of it all. This doesn’t mean you need a blog to use social media effectively. But most do feel that a good blog is an extremely important and central pivot point to effective use of social media.

You use social media (facebook, twitter, etc) to draw attention to your blog, right? Let Google do the same thing.

How? Use the keyword phrases we talked about above. Use them in the title, and in the copy in a way that makes sense. It does not guarantee rankings, but it does improve your chances dramatically.

PS: Don’t forget to check out Jason’s post about Social Media for SEO professionals on my blog, too!

SERIES Social Media Skills — Advertising, SEO, PR, Graphic Design, Copywriting, and more…