Search Engine Optimization Bay Area - 45% of Daily Tweets are from Mobile Devices - getFound SEM San Francisco

Yesterday, at the 2011 Mobilize conference, Twitter’s VP of engineering Michael Abbot spoke with Om Malik regarding Twitter’s overall growth and the role mobile devices play in that growth. Prior to joining Twitter 16 months ago, Abbot led the software and services team at Palm.

Since Abbot joined the company a little over one year ago, Twitter has seen exponential growth. Last summer, Twitter had just over 60 million total daily tweets and that number has increased to over 230 million daily tweets. Amazingly, approximately 45% of the 230 million daily tweets originate on mobile devices.

While discussing whether Twitter is concerned regarding the additional traffic the iOS integration will provide, Abbot indicated he is confident Twitter can handle the traffic volume:

“During the last nine months, there’s been more infrastructure changes at Twitter than there had been in the previous five years at the company.

One of the highlights of Abott’s interview was when he stated Facebook “sucks at everything” and indicated that Twitter is not focused on what its competition is doing. Abbot said Twitter is committed to keeping their service simple and providing users with an optimal experience. He believes that Twitter’s success is due to the simplified, easy to understand nature of the service.

[Sources Include: All Things D & GigaOM]

By David Angotti

Video Search Engine Optimization - Social Bookmarking Strategy Tips? getFound Sem San Francisco

A recent study found that the social bookmarking site StumbleUpon accounts for 50% of all traffic derived from social media , surpassing even Facebook as the leading source of traffic. While we have to take these numbers with a grain of salt—StumbleUpon exists solely to share links, while Facebook is the central hub of most users’ online social lives—this data lends credibility to the value of social bookmarking sites as part of your social media marketing and content promotion campaigns.

A social bookmarking strategy, when handled correctly, provides a lot more value than just a few credible links. It can help drive traffic, increase brand awareness and build your online presence. Here are 3 tips for developing a social bookmarking strategy:

1. Promote everything, every time
The crux of a strong social bookmarking strategy is consistency. Every time a company blog post or article goes live, you’ve got to submit to all of your bookmarking sites that day. You want to give all of your content a fighting chance to be found by your target audience, so cherry picking which days and which content your submit undermines your own efforts.

2. Find niche social bookmarking sites
Just because they may be smaller, that doesn’t mean they can’t be valuable. Large social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Digg and Reddit cover dozens of topics and cater to a vast audience. A niche social bookmarking site allows you to submit your content and know that it is being presented in front of the right audience. For instance, in the SEO world, two big niche social bookmarking sites are sphinn and SERPd. When submiting Brick Marketing blog posts to these two bookmarking sites, other SEO and Internet marketing professionals are going to be reading them.

3. Make your content shareable
You don’t have to be the only one that submits your content to social bookmarking sites. By incorporating social bookmarking buttons into your blog and website, you are encouraging your audience to share your content with their own social network. The search engines look at social signals like this (how many people are sharing your content) to determine how valuable a piece of content is and where it will rank in the search engines. Every share counts!

by Nick Stamoulis

Tags: search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"

Video SEO - Does Twitter Help Your SEO - getFound SEM, San Francisco

Twitter is one of the Big 3 of social networking (alongside Facebook and LinkedIn) and a valuable component of any social media marketing strategy. There are probably hundreds of blog posts out there telling site owners to get a Twitter account because they are “supposed” to. But what are the real benefits of incorporating Twitter into the online marketing mix? Can Twitter actually help your SEO or is it just another place to make noise and hope someone notices?

Here are 3 ways Twitter affects your SEO:

Social Signals
Both Google and Bing have admitted that social media signals are being incorporated into the search algorithm as a ranking factor. While we can only speculate as to how important social signals are, it’s probably save to say very much so. Bing patterned with Facebook to create a more personalized, social SERP and Google launched its own social networking platform. I doubt the two search behemoths would do so if they weren’t assigning some value to social signals.

So how does Twitter play into this? Content shared on Twitter can be indexed by the search engines and actually rank in the search results. The more time a piece of content is Tweeted and reTweeted, the more important it becomes in the eyes of the search engines. Just like your site thrives off of quality links, so do social signals.

Author Authority
Author authority is why it is important to take the time to actually build a Twitter profile and connect with real, human users. The search engines know that when they announce a new ranking signal, the spammers come out of the woodwork and try to manipulate it. If Google says reTweets are important, you can bet that black hat companies are creating hundreds of dummy accounts that exist solely to reTweet their content. Author authority aims to put a stop to that.
The search engines don’t just look at how many times your content is being Tweeted, but who is doing the Tweeting! How long has that person been active on Twitter? Who are their followers? What kind of content do they usually share? They want to make sure that spam profiles don’t artificially inflate the popularity of a piece of content. Having a dozen real profiles Tweet your blog post or article is worth much more than having 100 bots do the same.

Brand Awareness
If you think the only goal of SEO is to rank number one, you’re missing the bigger picture. Of course you want to rank well, but SEO is also designed to increase your overall online presence and brand awareness so your target audience can more easily find you. Twitter is a great way to increase your brand awareness. It allows you to connect with your customers in a new and personalized way. When someone Tweets about your brand/products, they are broadcasting your message to their social network as well, increasing your reach.

by Nick Stamoulis

Tags: search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"

Video Search Engine Optimization - Facebook: Hot, Not, or Lukewarm? getFound Sem San Francisco

Facebook has three-quarters of a billion users and shows no sign of slowing down. Just this week it introduced a very Twitter-like and Google+-like function — “Subscribe” — and it is the social destination for millions of Americans, many of whom still do not tweet and never had a MySpace page.

Yet there are whispers that Facebook’s best days are behind it, and that it could be the “next MySpace” (or Yahoo). As far back as 2010, there was talk of Facebook fatigue. Some teens said they would quit, though they didn’t know where else to go. Now some suggest that those who forgo Facebook may head over to Google+, once it’s out of its closed beta.

In my household, Facebook is still the dominant social platform: three out of four household members use it exclusively. I use Twitter and cross-post to Facebook (which may annoy anyone who subscribes to me on Facebook and follows me on Twitter). Yet each one of my family members spends part of his or her Facebook time grousing about the service. The constant changes, the ever-more-convoluted privacy settings and the surprise interface updates lead to endless frustrations. My wife, in particular, just wants to “post and go,” but recent update changes make that virtually impossible.

The reality, though, is that we often complain about the things we love and use most. No one in my house has requested a Google+ invite. This is not surprising; virtually none of their friends or family — except me — are on Google+.

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Asking Google+

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I spend a bit of time on Google+ each day, and it occurred to me that most of the early adopters on Google’s social platform are likely also Facebook users. So I asked them if Facebook is still hot or not, and why (note: I asked this question before Facebook’s “Subscribe” update).
The consensus: Facebook is running cool to lukewarm. Considering I asked the question in the echo-chamber that is Google+, this response is hardly surprising. But many of the comments hit upon what I see as Facebook’s key faults and hurdles it must jump over the next three to five years.
One commenter said Facebook, which has added a number of new features in recent weeks, is finally “stepping it up” in the face of growing competition from Google+.
Those who still think Facebook is hot did admit that the game may change when “Google+ opens up”. A few hedged their bets, saying that Facebook was lukewarm, but also “sitting at its peak of interest.” I guess they expect Facebook to topple from its perch at any moment.

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Reality Check

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There were, however, some who could see outside the Google+ bubble. Antonio Moro wrote: “[Facebook is ] still King of the hill, very hot, and since G+ started: hotter as it’s pushing new features faster than ever. I still prefer to use G+, but this doesn’t matter.”

There were other begrudging admissions of Facebook’s dominance. Allan Petersen wrote, “I wish I could say “Not” with a straight face. Unfortunately, it’s so much more intertwined with current online culture than MySpace was. And they’re continually pushing updates. I say ‘warm.’”

Many said that despite the encroachment of brands, fan pages and confusing updates, they will stick with Facebook because their friends show no interest in moving to another social platform. The decline of platforms like Friendster and MySpace suggest that what people say and what they actually do may not be totally aligned.

Some like Tom Dignazio said the MySpace analogy is off — or at least years away from being reality. “There is no real sign that FB is hurting any way,” said Dignazio. Others said it’s not a matter of Facebook being Hot or Not as it is “a signal of evolution. Facebook can’t be the bright shiny thing all the time.” opined Shane Rhyne.

Shane is right, of course: nothing remains in the spotlight forever. Facebook is simply not the hot, fresh new thing. But the lack of pure heat doesn’t mean Facebook is going away. Few of us get excited about Sears, but the retail store survives, even in the face of competition from online megastores like Amazon.com. A little less heat, and a lot more focus on what its users want, is probably what Facebook needs anyway.

by Lance Ulanoff

Tags: "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"

Search Engine Optimization Bay Area - YouTube Drives Traffic Longer Than Facebook & Twitter - getFound SEM

Viewers love different kinds of content, with video being one of the more popular varieties. But does it matter where you go to share that content? This week, Bit.ly decided to talk about link half-life–how long links shared through their service tend to last based on their origination point. In this context, a Bit.ly link’s half life is essentially equal to the time it takes that link to reach half the clicks it will accrue throughout its life. What did they find? YouTube links have a longer half-life than those for Twitter or Facebook.

The average half-life for links shared on YouTube is a whopping 7.4 hours. To put that into a bit of perspective, the average Bit.ly link (regardless of source) has a half-life of around 3 hours. That means that the public interest level in the links shared on YouTube tends to last twice as long as interest in links shared on Facebook or Twitter.

That’s just huge. But what does it mean in terms of actionable advice? Easy: share your links on YouTube, in the video description as well as in annotations on the video itself.

It’s not any kind of indictment of the practice of sharing links on Facebook and Twitter. Those links still get plenty of clicks–this data isn’t even about total clicks… but rather when in the link’s life-cycle the clicks reach their peak. You could even conclude that this information means you should share individual links more than once on social platforms outside of YouTube.

It makes perfect sense, really. On Twitter, you share a link, and it pretty quickly makes its way down the page, as other people the consumer is following also Tweet. Same with sharing on the Facebook wall. Whereas with YouTube, the video–and the links–are just right there… always. No new content appears on the page over time to push it down below the fold.
So maybe some of your readers don’t even see your links the first time you publish them on Twitter or Facebook? Maybe publishing the same link again at a future point in time might expose it to even more people? Of course, the loyal followers who do see and read what you post probably won’t want to deal with tons of duplicate posts, so you wouldn’t want to overdo it.

Again, this is general data. But clearly this analysis from Bit.ly just adds more evidence to the already-mountain-sized pile of evidence that all brands and small businesses should be exploring and experimenting with online video. You can’t post links on YouTube, where they hold more interest, if you don’t even have any videos or a YouTube channel.

by Jeremy Scott

tags; "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"

KeyWord Research - getFound SEM San Jose, CA

The most important thing to remember when it comes to conducting your keyword research is that you have to understand your user. If you don’t understand how people are searching for your product, you’ll never be able to target the right keywords. For instance, you might call your product a “workforce analytics and planning software” but your potential clients are searching for “business intelligence software.” While the two keyword phrases may mean the same thing (more or less), how is a search spider supposed to know that? That is why it is important to revisit your keyword research from time to time and make sure you are in-line with your target audience’s search behavior.

Site analytics are your best friend when it comes to making sure your targeted keywords are still on track. But don’t just look at the analytics of the ones you intentionally targeted. What other keywords are visitors using to find your site? Keep an eye out for up and coming keywords as this indicates a change in search behavior. People relearn how to search for things based on the kind of results they are getting. When they don’t find what they need with one search phrase, they will change the search query and look for more relevant results.


One reason it pays to change your keywords to better match new search behavior is that it positions your site as the frontrunner for “owning” those keywords. If you can start targeting keywords before they become industry standards, you’ll have built up the link portfolio and search presence that makes you the undisputed leader in that niche.

Understanding how people search for your products/services enables you to create better content to meet their needs. It’s not just about finding the right keywords! Knowing how people search lets you properly position your site without forcing it on your target audience. The right keywords will help your target audience come to you.

Writing by Nick Stamoulis

Keep in mind that you don’t want to dump all your old keywords because it looks like new ones might be on the way. If certain keywords have proven to be reliable sources of traffic time and time again, why ditch them? You can incorporate the new keywords into the mix and see how they perform over a few months. If it looks like there is value, then keep at it. If those new keywords were off the mark, it’s an easy fix to remove them. You have to be willing to be wrong with your keyword research. Not every keyword is going to be an exact match for your target audience. You have to learn to roll with it.

How to rank highly in YouTube searches - getFound SEM

Just as you can use traditional Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques to make your web pages more visible in online searches, you can optimise your videos to make them more visible on YouTube.

This is certainly a desirable goal. Research has found that video is the universal search category that is most visible in Google searches, and YouTube content was found to be most prominent when video integrations do appear on Google.

And of course, as the most important video platform and video search engine in the world, YouTube has the potential to be a powerful marketing tool. So what factors do you need to consider?

As with traditional SEO, elements such as titles, descriptions and tags all play a role, as do the quality and volume of incoming links. YouTube also measures and evaluates user signals (such as click-through rates, bounce rates, feedback etc.) among its important ranking factors.

Titles, descriptions, tags and links

Here are my thoughts on some of the key YouTube optimisation issues when it comes to your titles, descriptions, tags and links.
Titles
It goes without saying that you should try to include the important keywords related to your subject in the title of your video (try to arrange for the most important ones to appear first if possible).
Ideally you should also include your main keywords in the filename corresponding to the title, but remember that titles are generally cut off at around 60 characters in YouTube searches.
Descriptions
When drafting your video’s description, you should try to include the main keywords more than once and also bring in additional, semantically related words (while avoiding keyword stuffing, obviously).
While it’s true that only the first 55 to 70 characters of the description are actually displayed by YouTube, you should aim to write four to five sentences (there’s evidence to suggest that even the parts that aren’t visible to the user, are still evaluated).
Remember that external links (for example, affiliate links) can also be integrated into the description.
Tags
You should try to assign up to 10 tags, reflecting the most relevant keywords.
Links
External links are an important factor in YouTube video optimisation. And similar rules apply here as with traditional link building.
The construction of a good link profile with thematically relevant links is crucial, with most experts agreeing that links from social media are also assessed.
User Signals
In general, YouTube wants to make videos that are relevant and engaging more visible, and it evaluates signals from visitors/users to work out which these are.
So, for example, YouTube tracks how long users have stayed watching a video and at which point they left, which is why it has been able to make click-through rates (CTR) and bounce rates an important factor for determining video rankings.
If you’re sneaky and try to use misleading or irrelevant keywords and/or titles to attract visitors, then high bounce rates will tell YouTube to make your content less visible.
Here’s a list of some of the other important user signals that YouTube takes account of:

• The number of times the video has been viewed (within a set time frame). The more often it’s viewed, the more prominently it will be displayed. And in an ideal scenario it will land in the YouTube’s top lists.
• User feedback in the form of comments.
• The number of times the video appears in user playlists.
• The number of positive ratings the video has received.
• The number of blogs that have posted the video (which obviously also increases video impressions).

Research with the YouTube Keyword Tool and YouTube Suggest

In a similar way to the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, the YouTube Keyword Tool provides the opportunity to examine search volumes for individual keywords.
Using this, you can quickly understand which keywords are suitable for optimising your video.
Keywords that have a high search volume within YouTube are also often displayed right at the top of the Universal Search integrations within the normal Google search engine rankings pages (SERPs) and therefore have a higher CTR.

by Marcus Tober

Tags:   "search engine marketing San Jose CA, getfound San Jose CA, search marketing San Jose CA, search engine optimization San Jose CA, internet marketing San Jose CA, video seo, social marketing, video seo bay area"