Twitter SEO Tips: How to Use Twitter for SEO
Social media is playing an increasing role in search engine ranking. More users are discovering the content that interests them through social media than ever before. Since Twitter’s inception in 2006 and subsequent tipping point in popularity at the SXSW conference in 2007, the social media platform has grown to become one of the dominant players in the land of social media. In this article we will explore how to best employ Twitter for SEO success.
Twitter and SEO: Why Twitter is Important for Search
Twitter is now an important factor in SEO ranking. According to a study done by Searchmetrics, Tweets rank seventh overall in their list of 44 factors that affect search engine results. Statisticbrain reports that, as of July 11th, 2014, Twitter’s search engine manages 2.1 billion queries daily. Brands are beginning to realize the necessity of social media platforms like Twitter, as they play a major role in website traffic referrals and content dissemination.
In turn, Twitter is making it easier for search engines to find content that is disseminated on Twitter. Adweek.com reports, Twitter’s director of product management Trevor O’Brien noted that a change made by the firm so that Google and Bing had an easier time accessing 50,000 popular hashtag pages increased the number of logged-out users coming to Twitter from 7.5 million per month to 75 million per month – a tenfold increase.
Twitter for SEO: How to Take Advantage
How does one go about using Twitter for SEO? It’s important to consider a few best practices of Twitter and how they impact organic search. Some of the activities that increase your presence on the social media site will also work to effectively drive traffic back to your website. Other ways may be more specific to SEO, like placing your keywords within Tweets. As always, content is king and good content will drive more social shares, increase your influence, and have a positive impact on SEO.
Twitter SEO Strategies
Have a Complete Profile
Your username should reflect your site name or offered services as this is what will be mentioned and displayed in twitter feeds. Whenever possible your Twitter handle should be an exact match of your brand name. Avoid handles with your brand name plus a string of random numbers, as spam accounts will often use these types of names as their handles. Presence of an avatar or portrait is also important as this will distinguish your account from spam accounts that often lack an avatar. Verifying your account will also be beneficial for SEO. Make the information in your profile bio relevant to your website content and include a link that points back to your website.
Tweet about Trending Topics
Look to tweet about hot topics that are relevant to your industry. If there is a major news story developing around something that is relevant to your business, tweeting about that topic will increase your visibility. This may lead to more followers, retweets, favorites, and clicks and these increase search engine credibility. Twitter lists the top trends on your home page but you can also use tools like Trendspottr to gain a wider view of rising trends.
Maximize Your Engagement
Post tweets often to stay connected with your audience. When you are more active on Twitter you gain more followers which increases your influence and positively impacts organic search. If someone has mentioned or linked to you, thank them. You can also ask them to link to the newest thing you’ve created. Use tools like SocialBro to determine what is the best time for your particular business to tweet in order to guarantee the most engagement with your content. Use Twitter’s search function to find users tweeting about problems that your product or service may solve. By engaging with these users in a thoughtful and considerate manner you may be able to make a sale while also gaining a follower and even a brand ambassador.
Aim for Quality Followers
More followers are helpful for SEO but even more helpful is attracting influential, quality followers. In the past, people looked to increase their follower count by any means necessary, including purchasing followers. Search engines picked up on this practice and looked to discourage it. It’s believed that today search engines take into account both who you’re following and who is following you to determine the level of influence you have in your particular industry or niche.
Author quality on Twitter is much like PageRank for web pages. If a web page has dozens of links, each from a different page with a PageRank of 0, they probably provide the same SEO value as a single link from a web page with a high PageRank. A link tweeted by a respected and influential person on Twitter will be worth more than dozens of tweets from non-influential or spam accounts, for your reputation and your SEO. Use Twitter’s advanced search to find influencers in your field who you can follow and engage with. Re-tweets from them can lead to a huge boost in your number of followers.
Make Tweeting Easy
Be sure to make tweeting easy by including Twitter bottons on your website and content. Your homepage should contain a Twitter badge that readers can easily find, with a direct link to your profile on the site. A “follow” button around the Twitter badge on your website will encourage more follows. You can also add sharing buttons to your company blog and email newsletters to make it easy for readers to share this content. This allows them to tweet the content to their followers instantly, while they’re thinking about it. No matter how great your content is, people are much less likely to tweet links if they have to go to Twitter themselves and write their own post.