Category: Twitter

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Google States They Do Not Use Facebook or Twitter for Ranking

Matt Cutts, the lead Spam Engineer at Google revealed just this last week that Google is not using Facebook or Twitter posts or profiles for index ranking. This is very big news and a change in what Google has stated about how social impacts their algorithm.

You can watch the full YouTube video here.

Here’s the bottom-line about using social media and Google rankings:

1. Google is not ranking your site based on the activity you have on social media profiles like Facebook and Twitter.

2. Google does look at links that are shared on these social sites just like they look at content pages when they can spider the content.

3. Google is concerned about using social profiles to create “identity” as this may change or be blocked over time.

4. Google is not recording, for their algorithm, the number of likes or followers a social profile has.

5. Matt Cutts states that he personally likes social profiles for sharing and driving traffic, but does not recommend using them as an avenue to impact Google search placement.

This is an interesting change for Google as previously Google has stated that it did include likes and follower numbers as part of social signals and that these social signals impacted organic placement.

My recommendation is to continue to use Twitter and Facebook if it makes sense to do so. Some businesses have a rich forum on Facebook and should not abandon their followers just because they now don’t get SEO juice from activity there. But for SEO’s to encourage social media interaction now appears to be just one more SEO tactic that Google is clearly disavowing as a way to get organic placement.

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SocialOomph More Than a Twitter Client

 

I have been using SocialOomph for quite awhile. It used to be TweetLater. Over time the application has morphed into much more than an excellent Twitter client. It has now become a social networking power tool.

Now SocialOomph allows you to schedule and post to Twitter, Facebook, your blog, and to even create a custom RSS feed you can use in a number of creative ways. With the ability to save drafts to reuse, scheduling capabilities, and the ability to use bit.ly API to track your click stats, SocialOomph.com has become a very valuable tool for professionals and those serious about promoting their products and services using social networking programs.

I use the free version, but SocialOomph.com offers a professional version. The professional version charges a small monthly fee but offers many unique “power tools”. They even offer a free test drive. One thing that I think may be worth the extra charge is the ability to bulk upload tweets. Even if all you use initially is the free version, make sure to check out some of the features that the professional version offers, they are really astounding.

I have been using SocialOomph for quite awhile. I like it for the ability to schedule tweets and reuse tweets you have saved. In fact before any other application offered advanced scheduling Social Oomph had that as a regular feature. Another thing I like and use SocialOomph for is to send a welcome message to new followers. I can even set up to automatically unfollow a follower on Twitter when they unfollow me. I have used the vetting system as well, but no longer vet followers as this can really slow the growth of followers in your Twitter account. With many unique and time saving features, SocialOomph.com may end up being the only Twitter, blog, and Facebook client you end up using.

Please note that if you click any of the links in this post and buy access to the professional application version I will be paid a small commission, enough to buy me lunch at McDonald’s. But truly that is not the reason for my post, I use and like the application. For some clients it is the application of choice over HootSuite and TweetDeck. I routinely use SocialOomph.com for the clients for whom we are providing ghost Twitter Executive services.

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Interesting Nuggets on Social Media You May Not Have Known

You’ll want to read this full article as it has some excellent tidbits many of which I didn’t even know about. It is titled “Lesser Known Secrets for Better Social Media Results” at the Search Engine Journal.

Here are a few of the secrets that I liked best from the article and some of my own.

1. Start a tweet with .@somename and the update will appear publicly in all your streams and your friend’s you are talking to not just in the feed of your followers and in the feed of the other person’s followers as well. Who knew! .@ you will be my next update.

2. Try to use only one or two hashtags in a tweet. Too many starts to look like spam. We tell our writers try to stick with one.

3. On Facebook have your images for your wall be at least 403 pixels wide by 403 pixels tall. If you are using your smartphone, check your image size settings so you aren’t sending a small photo. Not only will they look better, but when you feature the photo on your page it will not be blurry.

4. Did you know that Pinterst allows the use of hashtags in the description box? Use them wisely and to your benefit.

5. Spend your time in Google+ Communities. Your updates there will be posted to your personal profile and you’ll have more interaction and fun. Personally I have really built up my circle numbers by creating a community and moderating it.

6. In Google+ don’t use the @personname use +personname. Although Google may understand the @ you’ll see that others are using the +.

Make sure to read the article as there may be more great tips you can glean for your own use.

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Never Buy Facebook Likes or Twitter Followers

Don't buy Facebook Likes or Twitter followers.
Don’t buy Facebook Likes or Twitter followers.

You’ll do more damage to your brand and reputation that you can realize when you buy Facebook Like or Twitter followers! It seems like a no-brainer really that there are some things that you just shouldn’t do, but I get asked over and over as to why a business should NOT buy likes.Here’s Why You Should Not Buy Followers:

1. The quality of likes and followers you will buy are poor. In some cases you are buying just number and not accounts owned by real people.

2. You may be buying spammers – likes and followers who are really spammers are of no value to you. They will want to @ message you to get exposure on YOUR wall or news feed to spew out their own service and products. They have no interest in connecting to you.

3. Many of these purchased likes and followers may be involved with pornography. You do not want to take a black eye for having followers and comments from those in a “bad neighborhood”. Take a look at the profile photos of some of these people who were bought as a like or follower. Many will be dressed in sexy or revealing outfits. Do you really want these icons appearing on your family-friendly newsfeed or wall?

Don’t be tempted with easy results, when you try to take a short cut to build your followers or fan base, you don’t want your brand to be damaged in the process. It is by far better to take it slow, build a thoughtful strategy, and work your own plan.