Using Social Signals to Boost Your Search Rankings

1. #C3NY
USING SOCIAL SIGNALS TO
BOOST YOUR SEARCH RANKINGS
Francis Skipper, EVP Digital Marketing, 451 Marketing

2. #C3NY
FRANCIS SKIPPER
2
EVP of Digital Marketing
@fskip // @451marketing
451marketing.com
Facebook.com/451Marketing
francis@451marketing.com
451 Marketing

3. #C3NY
STATE OF SOCIAL & SEARCH

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DECEMBER 2010…
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“We do use Twitter and Facebook
links in ranking as we always have
in our web search rankings”
-Matt Cutts

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MARKETERS WERE ALL LIKE:
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LAST MONTH…
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“Sike! Suckers…”
-Matt Cutts

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IT’S NOT THE FIRST TIME
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WE WERE ALL LIKE:

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BUT, WE’VE SEEN THE CORRELATION
BETWEEN SOCIAL ACTIVITY AND HIGHER
RANKINGS
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SO HAS MOZ…
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“Now in 2013, there's strong reason to suspect…that the relationship between
posting to Google+ and higher rankings goes beyond correlation into the territory of
actual causation.”

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AND SEARCHMETRICS
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“Social signals continue to correlate
very well with better rankings”
Social signals
Traditional ranking factors
SEO Ranking Factors – Rank Correlation 2013 for Google USA

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SO, WITH THIS IN MIND…
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“MUAHAHHAHAHA!!”
-Matt Cutts
SUCKERS!

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LET’S TALK ABOUT SOCIAL AND SEARCH

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EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL AND SEARCH
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Likes,
Shares,
Follows
Social
Media
Search
Traffic
Queries
Indirect
Social
Media
Search
Results
SEO
Direct
Social
Media
Page
Ranking
Social Signals
Pre-2010
2010
Today

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TRADITIONAL RANKING FACTORS “OLD SKOOL”
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Technical
Content
Links
The 3 C’s
Code
Content
Connections

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NEW RANKING FACTORS
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Content Diversity, Depth &
Type
Keyword Research
& User Intent
Link
Building
Social

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SOCIAL RANKING FACTORS
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• How many social followers/fans you have
• How many re-tweets, likes, shares, +1s, YouTube embeds
• Who is sharing your content, their authority, their reputation
• Popularity and quality of content
• Timeliness and “trust” of content
• Patterns

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BUT SOCIAL ISN’T A SILVER BULLET
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“LOW-HANGING FRUIT” –
RESULTS FROM SOCIAL SIGNALS

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PageRanking
Level of Effort
“LOW-HANGING FRUIT”

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WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
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of searchers never scroll past the first page
of search results*
*Search Engine Journal

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PAGE ONE HAS REAL BIZ VALUE$$
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SO HOW DO WE LOOK FOR LOW HANGING
FRUIT?
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YOU CAN GO DEEPER TO LOOK AT EFFORT LEVEL
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*Optional – tag keywords as LHF and watch growth

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IDENTIFY “LOW-HANGING FRUIT”
Send these to
social!!

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ENCOURAGE USE OF SOCIAL KEYWORDS
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#rugs #homedecor #smallspaces #arearugs
#8x8rugs
Check out how our signature 8x8 rugs
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post http://bit.ly/3hQYj

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POSTS AND LIKES AREN’T END OF STORY

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REWARDING SOCIAL SHARING

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• Informational Queries
• Answers
• How to’s
• Top 5’s
PORTABLE CONTENT

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PORTABLE CONTENT
“Ride the News” –
Trending Topics
But be careful…

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Links to social properties on website
Share buttons with content
MAKING SHARING SILLY SIMPLE

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MINI CASE STUDIES

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RUCKUS SPORTS

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RUCKUS SPORTS - PITTSBURGH RACE
• Pittsburg Race (new 2013)
• No rankings In May
• New Content on Brand website
• Encouraged social sharing around
Pittsburgh Ruckus Race
• Posted social content using
Pittsburg + Keyword
• Rankings for “Pittsburgh” terms
increased leading up to and after
race day

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PINE CONE HILL

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PINECONE HILL – MATELASSÉ QUILTS
• Pine Cone Hill featured “matelassé” “quilts” in content
throughout early summer across multiple social
platforms
• Kwd -specific posts were promoted through mid-
August and resulted in social shares
• September 1st –keywords see an increase in
rankings

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IN CLOSING…SOCIAL SIGNALS:
• We’ve all seen strong correlation
• Social keyword strategy should be a part of your overall SEO
content strategy
• Not a silver bullet
• Look at the data, not the hype
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QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION
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EVP of Digital Marketing
@fskip // @451marketing
451marketing.com
Facebook.com/451Marketing
francis@451marketing.com
451 Marketing

39. #C3NY
USING SOCIAL SIGNALS TO
BOOST YOUR SEARCH RANKINGS
Francis Skipper, EVP Digital Marketing, 451 Marketing