Using SEO to Justify Investment in Socialby Patrick Altoft

What I will be talking aboutDeciding what content to publish• Integrating with current activity• Market research• Brainstorming

Promoting content• Outreach• Using social media

Content strategy

Why SEO & social?Brands understand PPC and are willing to invest

SEO is far more profitable than PPC but more of a risk, brands still willing to invest

Social is hard to measure & less profitable with lower chance of success (depending on the industry) – so how do we get brands to invest?

The answer is that social helps drive SEO.

Doing Real StuffWould you do this if it didn’t help with SEO?

When you release a new page or piece of content would your MD or PR department tweet about it? Would they tweet a link built by your SEO team?

If not then you probably shouldn’t be doing it

SEO has to be integral to marketing

Real Company Stuff

http://b3.io/10ZXMjy

InfluencersFind key influencers & review what they are talking about each week

Follow via Twitter lists

Use data to decide what content would be popular with them

What do they link to?Analyse the past few months posts from the top 10 blogs in the sector you want to target & see what they link to

If they never cover infographics then don’t use that as your strategy

All sectors are different

Don’t aim too high initially

Get socialMake something users will love

Encourage them to share

*This is the Twitter Analytics interface for verified users

Social SEO is not about fans & followersIt’s about engagement

Tweeting

Sharing

Think About the FutureGoogle has a history of devaluing every type of link that was created for SEO purposes• Directory links• Press release syndication• Article syndication• Blatant paid links• Wordpress theme links• Advertorials• And many more

Unless the links you build are part of your overall marketing & communications strategy they will only work for a limited amount of time

Competitor AnalysisCompetitor analysis has become pretty much useless in the last 12 months.

Most of your competitors links probably look terrible

Maybe they disavowed them?

Analyse content that was widely shared & linked instead

CompetingIf you don’t have a better site, don’t expect to rank higher. Build links people can’t replicate rather than just copying competitors

http://www.rosshudgens.com/authority-bloat/

How It Works For Vue CinemasConstant communication and a weekly update with PR and Social agencies for Vue results in top quality content and links from trusted established resources which are relevant to their target audience.

Radio Times78 retweets179 Facebook interactionsLink from high authority siteDomain Authority: 74

Success Often success is about finding one or two high profile people to share content & it will virally grow

www.slideshare.net/mikejeffs/

What Google WantsThe goal of many of our ranking changes is to help searchers find sites that provide a great user experience and fulfil their information needs. 

Matt Cutts

Our strategy therefore is to create a better search result for our clients than their competitors.

This can be split into two simple to understand factors:• Creating more authority & being a better/more reputable company• Making better landing pages, specifically your primary pages

http://www.copyblogger.com/content-marketing/

Content StrategyOur Data Insights team analysed visits across one of the UK’s largest retail ecommerce websites and found that users who engaged with a piece of content such as an article, forum thread or video on the site before reaching a product or category page were 5 times more valuable than users who arrived directly on a product or category page.

Users who engage with quality content place more trust in the brand so convert at a higher rate, purchase more products and have a greater tendency to make repeat purchases

Increasing brand trust, improving conversion rates and encouraging larger sale values are all vital elements of any digital marketing campaign

Content Audit Document

•Typography•Readability•Spelling/grammar•Shareability•Keyword use•Copyscape report on stolen content

•Social media shares

Shareable Content

•Brainstorming•Competitor Analysis•Examples & screenshots from competitors

Informative Content

•Research Q&A on Yahoo Answers, Quora, Facebook, Twitter

•Search for questions in Analytics data & keyword tool data

•Gap Analysis of current content

•Examples & screenshots from competitors etc

User Generated Content

•Reviews – implementation, incentivisation etc

•Q&A section or Q&A on product pages etc

•Forums, blog comments, guest blog posts, in-depth content reviews

•Examples & screenshots from competitors etc

Site Structure

•Where does content need to go (blog or Q&A etc)

•How should the sections be structured

•Design & UI• Interlinking between sections

•Examples & screenshots from competitors

Content Roadmap Document

•Monthly or weekly content plan

•Special events & calendar

•Blog calendar•PR calendar

Content Strategy Framework

Use Your Assets to Build AuthorityMoneysupermarket.com releases an annual Home Insurance Monitor report detailing which towns in the UK are most likely to be burgled, common accidents, premiums etc

With data from 3.3m quotes this could be amazing

It’s in a PDF – big missed opportunity

Quora for Content IdeasUse Q&A sites to drive content strategy:• Quora• Yahoo Answers• Also filters in Analytics to find

questions

Patrick@branded3.com and twitter.com/patrickaltoft

Questions?