Some might argue that search engine optimization (SEO) in Fremont is dying or becoming obsolete as people use search engines less often and ask their friends and followers more often. However, at this point, it is seriously doubtful that search engines will be going the way of the dodo any time soon, especially as “Google” has essentially become a generic verb meaning to search for something. Optimizing for search engines is just as sure to continue being needed, as businesses vie for the highest ranking and more conversions.

When SEO in Fremont, and around the world, began to be recognized as an important part of web marketing, the most important thing was link building. While quality content and usable structure have always been the main way to get repeat visitors, the search engines mostly looked at how many links a site got. Links were like votes for a site – the more links, the more votes. Eventually, the search engines began to realize that some links were just there to increase the rank and weren’t real or quality links. This led to a change in how the search engines viewed the links and made some of them worthless, and others detrimental, leaving only quality links to affect ranking positively.

Then social media, which includes such social sharing sites as Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Flickr, Tumblr, Reddit, and StumbleUpon, among others, came on the scene. This began to change things again as people forged connections and shared information.

Social media links are often in the form of likes, shares, “+1″s, tweets (and retweets). These are still considered “noisy” signals – that is, they aren’t simple quality links. Social media links and shares can be purchased or faked, and do not constitute a majority of internet users, therefore do not count quite as much as some, but they still have significance. Both Bing (which tends to be associated with Facebook) and Google (which associates, obviously, with Google+) have stated that they look at social media signals for ranking purposes. Bing pays attention to authority (that is, how many followers a site has, and how many they follow) while Google looks at tweets and retweets when calculating the popularity of a link.

How, then, can social media improve your ranking? How does SEO in Fremont work with social media? There are a few things that you can do to make it work for you. These include:

• Make sharing easy. Use icons on your site that allow a visitor to simply click to share your content on their social media accounts.
• Build authority. Engage with your audience. Build relationships. Keep in mind that everything you do online will reflect on your business. Do a search on your name occasionally to keep tabs on what comes up.
• Use keywords that are pertinent to your website in your social posts; however it is important that they sound natural and not forced.
• Connect with other authorities in your field. These connections will help to build authority for you.
• When your “fan-base” shares your content, it’s like crowd-sourcing your link building.
• Keep it fresh. A key word in “social media” is “social.” Post quality content regularly and engage!

Provide valuable content and people will aid your SEO efforts in Fremont by sharing the content with friends, family, and acquaintances, and you can watch your website ranking improve.