What words to use and why from an SEO perspective

First things first, content is king, and the most vital part of any SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) strategy.

Linking your content to your target markets vocabulary is step 2. Defining your target market is the real trick that needs to be mastered, as you don't want people coming to your site then leaving in a hurry because they are not interested in your subject matter, and feel that they have been deceived by your marketing tricks.

Understanding your target market and their vocabulary is vital as you need to understand what words they would use to search for your information and optimize your page with these words in mind. Mis-spellings, foreign language words, and local slang are important, and all major search engines are beginning to use these concepts to establish the intent of a searcher from the words he / she has used in the search box.

all past searches are stored and evaluated by search engines on an ongoing basis to determine trends and search patterns within their user base. These results are factored into the SEA (Search Engine Algorithm) to determine a users intent, and search engines are beginning to get quite good at this.

This implies that your content must be well written and match up to your META TAG info, especially the keywords meta tags and any categories you may have listed in the head section of your page. Connecting the intent of an end user to your page is not a simple task, and a host of  variables will be factored into this section of the Search Engine Algorithm, with MANY OF THESE FACTORS BEING WAY OUT OF YOUR CONTROL.

Things like past searches done by others and current trending topics will be at the top of this list used to determine the end users intent at the search engine. Read this post for a deeper understanding of how search engines are using user intent factors.
http://searchengineland.com/is-googles-synonym-matching-increasing-how-searchers-and-brands-can-be-both-helped-and-hurt-131504

Bottom line is GOOD CONTENT using your intended target markets vocabulary and words that you believe your intended target market will use in search boxes when looking for your information, in well worded copy.........

Facebook Adds and SEO

Facebook Advertising is the new buzz word in social media circles and needs some serious attention from the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) crew, but first we need to determine the value of your Facebook marketing and placing adds within Facebook for your situation.

Read the whole post first then  read the 2 links at the bottom of this post to better evaluate what is written here

This evaluational is a complex task  that can only be done by your own marketing team, because of the list below...

• they know what they have done, and others can ask about what is missing, and why it is missing after looking at the complied list of what has been done and what has been left out - 
• others=
• SEO(Search Engine Optimisation) team
• Web publishing team
• Social media team
• they know where they have placed adds, others can ask why the specified location and not else where
• they know what SEO related tasks have been done to promote those adds they have placed, and your SEO team can discuss what is missing, then add to their own independent SEO efforts accordingly
• They know your target audience and their preferred platform of use, as well as how to get a call to action functional within that platform.
•  They have selected the action call, associated images, key words and key word phrases accordingly
• They have the tools to determine 
• the ROI (Return On Investment),  
• the popularity of your Facebook adds
• actions taken by viewers and subsequent results
• impact on brand retention and brand recognition

Marketing, web publishing, SEO  and Social media need to be integrated for any one of them to be successful.

If there is or is not  a related web site associated with the Facebook marketing efforts is the next critical question, with additional questions being how many links from within the related Facebook marketing pages to this web site are there and what key words and keyword phrases were used in these related Facebook

• adds 
• posts
• fan pages
• apps 

Next you need to evaluate your web site, blogs, and other marketing avenues using the same or similar tactics and tools. Then you have a fair means of evaluating  the face book add and its value to your complete marketing strategy, which should include but not be limited to

• inputs from your marketing team
• inputs from your social media team
• inputs from your online publishing team (web master and crew)
• inputs from the SEO team - separate from online publishing
• inputs from production staff
• inputs from management and PR teams
• inputs from your sales team showing sales graphs and related statistics so that these can be interpreted  correctly taking Social media signals and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) efforts into account and linking these to peaks and troughs in sales. Often sales and sales data are not part of this picture, due to the lack of integration because of marketing staffs selfish attitudes

Remember that Facebook does not allow the editing of their HTML nor insertion of  any META DATA into  their pages, so  only extreme basic SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is performed on your Facebook pages, including your Facebook Adds. Unfortunately your marketing staff do not consider SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)  and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) as part of company marketing strategy for some obscure reason.

Facebook adds create great value within Facebook for your :

• likes
• friends
• shares

These social signals (likes, shares and friends)  are interpreted by most popular search engines today  and add value to the SEO JUICE  factor which is included in the SE (Search Engine)  SEA's (Search Engine Algorithms) and passed on to the linked pages from the specified profiles / fans pages

The greater the SEO JUICE factor of a page the better a linked to page scores within SERP's (Search Engine Results Pages / listings) and thus the closer to the top of the SERP's. Unfortunately Facebook Adds do not link directly to a website out side of the face book domain, so you need to ensure that the landing page of your advert within the Facebook domain contains at least one link, and preferably more to your sales pages within a domain that you control and can optimise for the search engines using the carried SEO JUICE to your best advantage.

The Facebook adds landing page needs great care when the basic SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is done as this SEO is extremely limited to the on page selection of keywords and  key word phrases as well as the in-page copy and any inbound links that you have generated from other domains to the Facebook landing page (The page your Facebook add refers to)

Facebook has their own internal linking structure and tools, which you need to understand and use as well by placing posts and fan pages within Facebook with carefully planned links, linking to the URL of your Facebook add. This very basic SMSEO ( Social Media Search Engine Optimisation) practice improves the value of the add within the Facebook SEA (Search Engine Algorithm)  and subsequently improves the quantity and quality of the SEO JUICE carried over to your pages from the Facebook add.

What this means is that you must use the Facebook adds to funnel your prospects from Facebook to your sales pages in your own domain, and use this strategy as part of your overall SEO strategy to improve your SERP's (Search Engine Results Page Listings) within Search engines to catch all searchers looking for your product / service / information thus improving your overall marketing and ROI (Return On Investment) of your total marketing budget.

face book sponsored results
integrate Social Media and SEO


REMEMBER THAT ALL YOUR MARKETING EFFORTS NEED TO BE CO-ORDINATED AND INTEGRATED HOLISTICALLY

SEO (SEARCH ENGINE |OPTIMISATION , SOCIAL MEDIA, BLOGS AND FORUMS ALL FORM PART OF MARKETING AND NEED TO BE INTEGRATED INTO THE COMPANY MARKETING STRATEGY CAREFULLY, EXCLUDING ONE OR GIVING ONE MORE VALUE THAN THE OTHERS IS VERY SHORT SITED.

SEO and what it really means

 SEO - Search Engine Optimisation - has changed over the years, and some how the meaning of the term SEO has been lost. SEO could be described as discussed in the post Search engine optimisation and your social media marketing strategies: SEO and what it really means  where I use this definition of SEO to try and get people into the right frame of mind when discussing SEO

A definition of SEO : The techniques and methods used in generating good copy written with the intended target market in mind and the related subsequent online promotion of the copy once it is placed within the desired platform so as to ensure good SERP's (Search Engine Results Positions) within that specific platform. 

SEO involves the whole marketing team, as well as every other aspect of the company and should adopt an integrated approach when properly done. The most important part of any SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) effort is to ensure that the target market is clearly defined, because all subsequent efforts are really in place to ensure that this specific target market finds the material concerned and actually clicks on the link provided by the search provider.

This means that the SEO technician needs to be consulted / instructed with the desired end result in mind, with a clear road map showing all the target market groups  and the associated   marketing strategies which include but is not limited to:

• all social media platforms including but not limited to :
• facebook
• twitter
• pinterest
• news platforms and forums
• all blogs and associated news letters (online or offline)
• any other online marketing associated with the project at hand
•  all related marketing avenues

The related subsequent online promotion is the big issue as it involves the  generation of quality back-links and these should come from as wide a variety of sources as is possible and include the above listed sources. This means that

• the company blogger
• the different social media platform managers
• the company media consultant
• the company publicist
• the marketing manager 
• other affected departments within the company

All need to be part of the SEO team and each needs to supply the SEO technical team with reports detailing their online activities showing how, and where they place links  to the company web site. These reports need to be analyzed and followed up with feed back, specifying words to be used in copy as well as specific pages with associated links that should be used within their subsequent online promotion of the desired pages within the company website through the medium that they use.

That means that

• the Facebook team must discuss and link to specified landing pages
• the twitter team must tweet specifeid words with links to these same landing pages
• the pinterest team must pin images from these specified landing pages and add comments with specified keywords
• Linked in team must discuss specified product / service and link to specified landing pages
• G+ team must follow similar guidlines
• Company blogs must follow similar guidelines and link to specified landing pages

 These actions need to be integrated and each team should ensure cross referencing is done in an organised and structured manner with each platform referring to all other platforms with the prime focus placed on the call to action pages in the company website where sales will be the main focus.

 I recently watched this video about how to convince the top management to spend money on social media marketing, and was quite shocked, because it highlighted an important issue for me. this issue is that SEO is not understood by marketing people, as it is perceived to be separate from marketing!!!!!

SEO is the prime marketing tool that will ensure your online efforts - be they in the social media, on blogs, in news casts or web pages - are found by your intended target market. once again an overview of what SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is

A definition of SEO : The techniques and methods used in generating good copy written with the intended target market in mind and the related subsequent online promotion of the copy once it is placed within the desired platform so as to ensure good SERP's (Search Engine Results Positions) within that specific platform. 

Search Engine Optimisation and social media issues

Just a quick comment about a page you need to review

check here to read more about this topic (Search Engine Optimisation) by Adam Sherk
Interesting reading...
The social signals generated by the Social media websites are being incorporated into organic search results and having a very positive impact on the total site score of your web site. If you are neglecting the social media efforts in your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) you are planning to be at the bottom of the SERP's (Search Engine results Pages)

Search Engine Optimisation and social media marketing

The YouTube play list below contains videos covering SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) issues, and the write up discusses SEO \(Search Engine Optimisation) and SMSEO   (Social Media Search Engine Optimisation) in general

Info4u offers Online cloud computing services, and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is an essential part of all online cloud systems that ensures the relevant target market finds the various information portals within your company or organisations online computing cloud.

The target market could be

• internal office staff
• different segments of your corporate intranet
• your customers
• your suppliers
• the general public

Each target market segment requires different approaches and different sets of information. How to ensure which set of viewers find which set of information is out of your hands, and in the realm of your Search provider, but you are in control of how you optimise  your page for the different search engines to evaluate your information.

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is a delicate subject that requires a deeper understanding of many marketing concepts and starts with understanding your target market.

Next is to use selected key words in the web page copy, and ensure that these are used by your primary target market group.

The many SEA's (Search Engine Algorithms) use different techniques and procedures to score points for your selected keywords, so you need to have a very good understanding of what key words are, and how to construct sentences around these key words in a manner that is visually pleasing to your target audience, and also logical to SEA's  (Search Engine Algorithms)

Each video in this play list will add some understanding to the bigger picture, and each video should be viewed independently and analyzed separately first, taking into account the target market of the information provided in the video.

Adding META TAGS in the head section of any html page adds tremendous value to the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) value of the page, and many of the videos in this playlist will discuss these tags.

The META TAGS should how ever never be separated from the content of the page that the end users (viewers) see and read, and words not in the content should never be placed in the <HEAD> section willy nilly, as this may cause the SEE's (Search Engine Engineers) to view these words as SES (Search Engine Spam).

SEA's (Search Engine Algorithms) are closely guarded secrets of Search Engine Owners, and have many variables which are mentioned from time to time, and when you watch a video discussing any of these take careful note, and write this down so you never forget the particular variable, and its worth within the SEA (Search Engine Algorithm) 

Google professes to use in excess of 250 (two hundred and fifty) individual variables in their SEA (Search Engine Algorithm) which gives you an idea of the size of their logical equation used to evaluate your web pages and the words within your pages when deciding which page goes to the top of a SERP (Search Engine Results Page) list.

SMSEO (Social Media Search Engine Optimisation) is hardly ever discussed in any online forum, but is an essential part of ensuring the success of your social media marketing efforts.  Take note of the videos discussing your target market selection and the word selection criteria during key word selection.

 The first step in SMSEO is to use your selected key words and key word phrases in your social media marketing efforts.

The second vital step in SMSEO (Social Media Search Engine marketing)  is to ensure that your posts have inbound links from -:-

• your web sites
• your blogs
• your forums where you discuss the different aspects of your project, product or service
• Your other social media platforms

The third vital step SMSEO (Social Media Search Engine Optimisation is to ensure that your posts contain out bound links to  -:-

• your web sites
• your blogs
• your forums where you discuss the different aspects of your project, product or service
• Your other social media platforms

Following these three steps  is the best you will be able to do, as no social media platform allows you to edit the html code where your social media posts are displayed.

So watch these videos carefully and evaluate them with great care, and make adjustments to your web pages and social media posts with respect for what you have learnt from the videos in this play list.

For further info visit www.info4u.co.za or fill in the online form found here

SEO and what it really means

SEO or Search Engine optimisation is clearly a misunderstood concept, and this is very evident when you talk to marketers who use FB (Face Book) to promote their products or services.

The first question that needs to be cleared up and put on the table for discussion when dealing with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is who is your target market and how do you expect this group (your target market) to find your information, product or service on the Internet.

Next step is which platform do you expect your intended target market to use to locate your information.

• will they use a social media platform
• will they use a search engine like google, yahoo or another found here
• will they go directly to your page cause they found your link in the printed media
• will they go directly to your page cause they heard it on radio or saw it on TV
• will they access your page through a link found in their email

This is one of the most important steps in any SEO (Search Engine Optinisation) effort, if you fail to do this your are planning to ensure your pages get no (zero) visitors. Your copy (the words you use in your article or post) are chosen according to the platform as well as  your intended target market, with their language use and vocabulary base

You also need to remember that every social media platform (SMP) you use has its own built in search engine that uses an algorithm to supply you with the best matches in their data base for your search.

How these internal search engines allocate points or establish a ranking order for the matches within their system is a mystery, just as the algorithm used by Google, Yahoo and others is a mystery. But be sure there are methods and tricks to ensure your information is placed higher up in the SERP's (Search Engine Results Positions) than others.

In face book the number of likes (often called social signals) is a prime factor, and the more likes a specific post has received the higher up the author and related information gets in the SERP's (Search Engine Results Positions). Other factors in FB include but are not limited to

• the number of friends one has,  
• the number of common friends one has with the person who placed the article
• your likes of similar articles or posts
• the number of your listed friends who have liked the relevant post or article
• the total number of posts you have made
• the total number of external links to the relevant article and their positions within other search engines.

So how do you get likes in face book?  simple answer is write what the public want to hear about, and they will like your post. If that fails then you need to specifically request individuals to read your post and click like. The same applies to all other social media platforms, just likes are replaced by terms such as" PIN IT" in pinterest, follow or re-tweet in Twitter, +1 in Google Plus and similar in other SMP's (Social Media Platforms)

Facebook does look at links from other SMP's (Socaial Media Platforms) for their SERP's (Search Engine Results Positions), and so does twitter and pinterest, but what  the value of this is unclear as their algorithms are kept secret, just as in Google, Yahoo and others.

Bottom line is that good, well written copy, that is unique to your product, service or related information is essential to your viewers. All the search engines understand this, even the internal search engines within the many SMP's (social media platforms).

So a clear definition of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) would be

The techniques and methods used in generating good copy written with the intended target market in mind and the related subsequent online promotion of the copy once it is placed within the desired platform so as to ensure good SERP's (Search Engine Results Positions) within that specific platform.  

 The purpose of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is to ensure that your information is found by your intended target market when they use their preferred search engine on their preferred platform.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is not only for big business and big websites, and if you do not use basic SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) in your online marketing then your online marketing  will fail and you will have wasted your time and effort.

Once again SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) starts with defining your target market, and this should be the first step in any marketing campaign, thus by default your marketing strategy already includes the first steps of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) Once you have come to grips with this very elementary statement you will soon realise the value of basic SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and just how easy it is to perform the very minimum SEO which requires no technical skill at all.

The related subsequent online promotion of your posts on any social media platform are essential to ensuring better SERP's (Search Engine Results Positions) in all platforms. Web sites allow for more technical SEO techniques and methods than social media platforms (SMP's) and Web Site search engine optimisation (WSSEO) needs to be treated very differently to Social Media Search Engine Optimisation. (SMSEO)

 search for the term  #info4u2use in twitter for posts containing links to SEO and related posts by staff at Info4u.

List of search engines

list of search engines http://www.thesearchenginelist.com/

I hope this list of search engines helps you discover more stuff on the internet.

Reasons for social media integration!

I have been a bit busy with the issues around the IMPLEMENTATION OF THE IWPA (ISIMANGALISO WETLAND PARK AUTHORITY) IMP (INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT PLAN) AND RELATED PPP (PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PROCESS / PROCEDURE)

This issue is very problematic and full of political interference from many levels. There are many thorny issues that need to be discussed honestly in the public domain, which the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority are deliberately sidestepping. See this blog for details http://iwpappp.blogspot.com/

So lets get back on track and discuss the value of integrating your social media efforts with your other marketing efforts, keeping in mind how your prospective customers first find out about your products or services. If you operate in a closed community then you have no problems, as everybody will be aware of what your products / services are, what they cost and how to contact you for more info or adsvice.


If on the other hand your business relies on the public or a niche market, then you know that your customers / followers / clients first find your web page by using a search of some type. Most used Search system (called a search engine) is Google. others are improving and a list can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_search_engines 


Search engines are tricky things to master, and no search engine will volunteer their algorithm that they use to sort out the returned list of possible matches that you need to evaluate and choose from. So what should you as an owner of a web site, social media profile or blog do to ensure that your information is located by your  intended target market ?.


The answer is quite simply apply SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) techniques when creating your pages and writing your copy. I am sure you are thinking  "I don't know what that is!!!" but you are wrong, because you use many of these techniques already in you basic marketing plan any way.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) starts with defining your target market, and using words that your defined target market are familiar with when writing your copy. If you do this you are over half way there already. The next step is to ensure that your information has some inbound links, that is ensuring that other websites, blogs, social media pages or forums link to your information in some way. In Facebook clicking a like or share button does this automatically for you. So by loose definition, the more likes a post has in face book the more inbound links the post has. placing a link in Facebook to some remote page  (out side of the FaceBook domain) creates an out bound link in face book which is an inbound link at the remote page you referred to.


The search engines use this data and much more information that they collect about your information by using what they commonly call spiders that crawl the web, looking for webpages and collecting all types of data from the page and storing this data for the Search Engine algorithm to use according to the search engine engineers instructions. 

When you type a word or combination of words into the search box and press enter the search engine processes this request according to the instructions in their algorithm and displays a list of probable matches for you to choose from. 

So taking the above info into account and evaluating what needs to be done so people find your information you need to ensure that you have at least 2 but preferably more places where you discuss your business online, and link these together by cross referencing  your various online information portals.

example : you have a website, a facebook profile and a twitter profile.

step 1 is to create a fan page in FB and write about this fan page on your  wall and link to it on your wall.
step 2 write about your fan page on twitter and place a link to your fan page in your tweets


Step 3 write about your twitter profile on your facebook wall and place a link to your twitter profile on your face book wall.


Step 4 write about your face book profile in your website, and link your webiste to your FB profile with a FB badge 

step 5 write about your twitter profile in your website and place a link to your twitter profile with a twitter badge / banner


step 6 write about your fan page in your website and place a link to your fan page using a FB badge.


step 7 write about your web site in your face book pages, and refer back to your twitter posts.


step 8 repeat steps 2 to 7 on a regular basis, and keep adding extra pages to your website. ensure that each new page in your webiste gets a mention in your facebook effrots as well as in your tweets. keep mentioning your tweets and facebook posts in your web site and update regularly (at least once a week - preferably more often)


Step 9 get your friends and others to mention your info in their facebook pages
step 9 get others to retweet your tweets about your FB pages and your web pages.


step 10 regularly go over what you have done and check for errors that may have crept in. adjust and repeat steps 1 to 9. then repeat step 10 as often as is needed.


If you do this then you will have some success. once you have the hang of this you can expand and really improve your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) by using HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) in your website and in all your social media where you are allowed to. this will improve your SERP's (Search Engine Results Position / placements)  drastically


The value of integrating your social media profiles with your web site and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) efforts  will become evident as your online business picks up due to the organic listings generated in many search engines by your hard work and thoughtful use of your key words as used by your target audience.


before purchasing a domain name for your website, or when purchasing a new domain name to expand your online branding consult with at least 3 or 4 different SEO specialists and ask for branding advice related to domain name purchases. If the SEO specialist does not ask you to define your target market before discussing further, be weary as he / she still needs to learn a lot. The primary issue when doing SEO is to know the target market and their vocabulary and terminology used within the target market group.


When integrating your different online marketing segments remember to keep you intended target market in focus and write your copy accordingly. this will generate the most value for your efforts.