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One of the biggest developments in the world of search engine optimization (SEO) is that search engines are now beginning to index the content you create on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.  This means that now more than ever the success of your website depends on developing a strong social media presence.

Not only to create a buzz about your blog and bring in regular and loyal visitors, using social media is also important to drive your content up the search engine results pages.  This will increase the likelihood of visitors clicking on your site when searching for relevant and specific keywords.

The world of SEO and how to do it is constantly changing, which is why we’ve put together 5 successful strategies you can start today to take advantage of these latest developments.

1.   Optimize Every Social Media Profile

The goal of SEO is to get your website on page one of search engine results pages.  One of the easiest ways of doing this is to optimize your social media profile pages.  Top website builders and marketers have three golden rules for social media profile pages, whichever network you’re using, including Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.

• Set your account name as your brand or company name
• Add links to your website
• Use relevant keywords to describe your company or organization

2.  Research The Latest Hot Topics

As a website builder you must keep on top of the latest search keywords relevant to your niche.  What are people talking about right now and what are they searching for today? 

Use tools such as Google Trends and the search feature on Twitter to look for the latest “trending topics.”  When you see something relevant to your industry, generate some content on your social media sites and your blog using those keywords to attract attention and tap into the current trend.

3.  Optimize Status Updates

Most social media sites have a status bar which you can regularly update to address your followers.   By changing your status using relevant keywords this will help your social presence be indexed in real-time search engine results pages. 

Just a word of caution.  Your social media followers will quickly get annoyed if you simply use a string of keywords as your status.  You need to integrate them subtly into your status update in a way that improves your audience’s engagement with your profile, rather than antagonizing them. 

For example, if your blog is about accessories for dogs and you want to use the keywords “designer dog collars” and “diamond dog collar.”  You could write as your status update: “Just found 10 different designer dog collars at a huge discount, including diamond dog collars.”  You’re giving your audience something of real value that they’ll be interested in.

4.  Build External Links Via Social Media

Search engines also rank your site by the number of external links to and from your content.  Social media is one of the best ways of creating these links.

First you need to make it easy for visitors to share your content with their own network of social media friends to increase the number of external links to and from your sites.  Plug ins such as I love Social Bookmarking, ShareThis and Sociable are really easy to use and place simple icons or a drop down menu at the end of each post.  These plug ins are available for free to download from our resources page.

You can also directly feed and connect any new content you create with your social media sites using Twitter Updater, Twitter Feed and WP Facebook Connect. 

For more information on how to use social media to create links to and from your content, this article has 10 Secrets of Linkbaiting and Why Your Blog Depends On It.

5.  Content First, Optimization Second!

Finally any website builder planning on using social media to improve SEO must remember that optimization should be subtle and integrated within your content.  Your audience’s experience is paramount because even if your SEO is highly successful, if you don’t create great content they’ll never come back again or recommend you to their friends.

Never create disjointed content that’s merely a string of random keywords.  Address your customer and their needs, interact and engage with them and above all make creating great content your number one priority as a website builder.