Today it’s anyone’s guess what Google will use next to rank websites. With the Panda update, they started to weed out the bottom-of-the-barrel content. The message sent by the Panda update was clear: Write great, useful, unique content. There has also been a lot of speculation about how Google is treating social media and the queues that Twitter, Facebook and now Google+ may provide.
With all the questions, hypotheses and conspiracy theories being thrown around by search marketers and Google fanatics, it’s logical to question whether you have all your bases covered in the event of a big change. Do you know what your writing team is doing? Do you know what the social team is doing? Most can probably answer yes to these questions because this type of work is often done in-house.
What about your third-party firms? Your PR firm? Your content development company? Have you looped them into your SEO strategies? My guess is that they’re not doing as much as they could. From what I have seen as a search marketer, very few firms have enough information and resources to take good SEO strategy into consideration when scripting their campaigns.
In an effort to cover all your online bases, get them involved. They are creating online campaigns that can benefit your search efforts. Let them know that search engine optimization is important to you. A first step is to let them know what key phrases your SEO team has deemed important.
If they are promoting a particular product for you, make sure they are using a generic term that is tied to it. There is a difference between promoting “The new XDAC4 from Genocorp” and “The new XDAC4 energy efficient dishwasher from Genocorp.” What if Google raises the stakes and starts using conversions to determine which keywords are related to particular branded products? You want those generic terms in place.
Get your third-party firms involved, educate them and share your online goals. Giving them your keywords and phrases is a start. If they know they should use the keyword phrases on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and in any links they may acquire, it will only strengthen the relationship with the rest of your marketing initiatives and benefit your online efforts.
