It is official. Google and Bing include social signals which are links which get tweeted on Twitter when   determining rankings in their search results. This was inveterated by Danny Sullivan in his December 1, 2010 post on Search Engine Land and it was likely a factor for a while before that.

To put this novel factor in perspective; Google utilizes hundreds of signals to determine how it must rank a website. These include inbound links to the website, the title tag of a web page, and website pace.

Getting people to link to your website is really all about having incredible content that people would like to share, whether on their blogs or websites, or on Twitter. As Google and other search engines increasingly take note of social activity and the links shared on websites like Twitter, having a good social media presence will become increasingly vital for ranking well in search results.

A number of companies have been employing social media as a part of their marketing strategy. Now that social activity has so much impact on search engine optimization; companies which take SEO gravely know that they must utilize social media as part of their plan for getting onto the first page of search results.

How Can I Utilize Twitter To Help My Search Engine Optimization?

The ways of search engines are undoubtedly mysterious, and people are always trying to figure out which particular tactics will help more than others. But just as we know that other ranking factors are considered in light of giving searchers the best information for their queries, you can bet that search engines will elevate the finest content on the social networks – particularly the content which is shared by real people who have influence.

Based on case studies; the more quantity and quality of tweets that link to your website, the more of a lift you can expect to witness in your search engine rankings for the linked-to page or pages.

Mind the Text

When you tweet a link, it is likely that search engines utilize the text which you enter to determine what your link is about. It is very akin to the way that search engines regard anchor text on web pages – the text on which a link is built tells the engines what the linked page is about. This in turn can help out the linked page rank better for the keywords which are contained in the anchor text.

Who Exclaims?

Who links to you on Twitter matters. You almost certainly know already that it is more beneficial if influential tweeple – “people” in Twitter-speak – tweet about you, or retweet your tweets, because they will reach out to a wider audience. The akin is true for the search engine optimization value of Twitter. Google and Bing both exclaim that they look at the author’s authority or quality when evaluating links which appear in tweets.

The search engines are mum on how they determine author quality, but here are certain indicators of authority that search engine optimization experts think search engines consider:

*Presence of a portrait. Spam accounts often do not have one.

*Has the account been verified? Did the individual confirm their email address?

*More followers.

*Quality followers

*Ratio of following to followers.

*It may be better if the URL in someone’s profile does not match the domain they are tweeting about because then it is certain that the person is not engaging in self-promotion.

*Twitter handles that does not have numbers.

*A bio with complete information.

*Engagement.

*Included in lists created by quality tweeple.

*The PageRank of a Twitter profile

The notion of author quality is much like PageRank for web pages. If a webpage has 100 links, each from a different webpage with a PageRank of 0, then they probably provide the akin search engine optimization value as a single link from a web page with a high PageRank. A link tweeted by a well-followed person on Twitter will be worth more for your reputation and as well as your search engine optimization than 100 tweets from spam-y bot accounts.

Something you must remember is that utilizing bots or cheap labor to craft a ton of Twitter accounts and tweet links to your website would be nothing but a spam-y waste of time and as well as money. You will not get any search engine optimization value and you could end up being identified as a cause of Twitter spam.

What Can One Do For Encouraging Tweets and Links?

1. Create incredible content which people will want to share.

2. Make it easy for people to tweet and share your content.

3. Engage with your followers and attract new, quality ones.

4. Keep tabs on who has mentioned or linked to you and thank them.

What Do We Know About Twitter and Search Engine Optimization?

Case Studies

The people at one website noticed the website suddenly ranked on the first page for a particular keyword right after the website was linked to by a prominent Twitter account – one with more than 350,000 followers – and that tweet was retweeted more than 100 times.

In a recent experiment; people were asked to link to one page from their website, or tweet a link to another page. The outcomes so far? The page which was linked in 522 tweets outranked the page which was linked 646 times across 36 different websites. It showed up as the first result for a particular keyword search.

Points of Order

Search engines take note of public Twitter accounts only. If you view the lock symbol, and you have to request to follow someone, their tweets will not help out anyone’s search engine optimization.

Websites still matter. You must continue to build good backlinks to your website to guide more people to your website and for ranking well in search. Links from Twitter are a novel tool to help your search engine optimization, but they can only do so much.

For website owners; it certainly makes sense to think about earning links in the social networks and as well as on websites and blogs. Do not leave the advantages of sharing on the social web on the table.

Stay tuned with SEO Global Expert for more updates.

Danny Sullivan interacted with Google’s Matt Cutts and as well as Bing’s Duane Forrester on a panel today at SXSW interactive. Google and Bing on an akin stage without a doubt normally makes for certain truly inimitable search engine-related entertainment. You may recall Matt Cutts and Bing’s Harry Shum bickering about the whole “Bing stealing Google results” ordeal a while back. Today’s discussion was much more tame; in fact; there was no bickering at all irrespective of a brief joke about the Google/Bing debate by Danny Sullivan.

The session took place at a tiny overcrowded meeting room at the Hilton where the seats got filled up quickly leaving probably one third of the crowd sitting on the floor which lead to difficult maneuvering for all those who were trying to work their way up to a microphone to ask questions.

When asked about the JC Penney condition; Matt Cutts avowed; “We’re still taking action.” On black hat tactics, he said that Google’s response (penalties) tend to be “roughly proportional” to how serious the offense is. You might be penalized for 30 days, but if the offense is something that is more obviously deliberate, Google’s response is “going to be stronger.”

To those affected by this penalty; he recommends the old reconsideration request. He avows that he does pay attention to people who tweet him but he would not recommend that as the primary way to carry out things; Duane Forrester’s response was along the akin lines – you can tweet him but it will probably get lost in his timeline.

There was not a lot of novel information given out in the session; though where Google has its classic “more than 200 signals” for ranking; Duane Forrester affirmed that Bing has like a thousand. Not certain if that was a big exaggeration or not. He did not present it that way. It is interesting to note that there could be a difference of nearly 800 signals which the two search engines utilize.

Stay tuned with SEO Global Expert for more updates.

Bing has brought in a new toolbar or Bing bar. It includes things like; Bing search, facebook, email, maps, Bing rewards, games etc.

“I know what you are thinking another toolbar? ” The rep told seo global expert. “Bing took a fresh approach and redesigned it so the Bing Bar not only delivers a rich search experience, but also brings some of the most popular things people do on the web right to them in an app-like experience.”

“For example, one key feature of the Bing Bar is the Facebook integration, which makes it easy for you to see what your friends and family are up to without ever having to leave the web page you’re on,” he added.

It has alerts as well. “As we talked to customers we realized that more and more of them use many different online services and while some of those services provide proactive alerts of new mail or postings, they didn’t have a consolidated way to get all that information,” says the Bing Team. “Additionally, as folks are browsing the web often times they encounter areas where they might like some help (say content on a page in a foreign language). We created Alerts to act a bit like your online personal assistant, letting you know when new messages arrive or when the Bing Bar can help you with something you are doing online.”

Rewards are only available for U.S. “Finding the latest offers for Bing Rewards is easier than ever by simply clicking the Bing Rewards icon in the new Bing Bar,” avows Bing’s Joshua Schnoll. “With Bing Rewards you have the opportunity to earn credits redeemable for great rewards just by taking advantage of offers while searching, discovering, and exploring on Bing right from the new Bing Bar. Learn about Bing features and ways to find information more quickly while earning credits for rewards like gift cards for Starbucks and Amazon, Microsoft Points for Xbox Live and more. We’ll also alert you when new offers are available through alerts in the Bing Bar. Sign up for free through the Bing Rewards icon in the Bing Bar and earn 250 credits to get you started towards your first reward.”

The announcement did not avow anything about utilizing Google search data as a Bing ranking signal. When inquired about data collection; the rep told us:  There hasn’t been a change, but the team did update the Bing Bar privacy info to be more clear. When a person uses the Bing Bar we collect information that helps us understand the configuration of the computer, how the Bing Bar is used, and search information where the default search service is Bing and the user conducts a search through the Bing Bar. If a user elects to participate in the Bing Bar Experience Improvement program, then we collect additional information including the websites that a user visits from the browser with the Bing Bar installed.

If a user elects to participate in Bing Rewards, then we also collect additional information as detailed in the Bing Rewards Terms of Use (http://www.bing.com/rewards/tou/). Specifics regarding Bing Bar Privacy can be found here: http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/bing/gg316403.aspx

The Terms of Use (http://explore.live.com/microsoft-service-agreement?ref=none) and the Microsoft Online Privacy Statement (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=74170) for Bing are publicly available.

The Bing bar needs Windows 7, Vista or XP with SP 3 and internet explorer 7 or later.

Stay tuned with SEO Global Expert for more updates.

I thought this was already made quite clear; but Google has avowed again that it does not utilize Bing data for influencing its search results the way Bing apparently utilizes Google data to influence its search results.

Danny Sullivan has dug into this matter again and got certain new quotes from Google fellow Amit Singhal; who administers Google’s ranking algorithm and who wrote a post criticizing Bing for its practices after the entire debacle went down.

“Bing results increasingly look like an incomplete, stale version of Google results—a cheap imitation,” he avowed.

Amit Singhal told Danny Sullivan; “We absolutely do not use search activity on other search engines to influence our search results.”

That does not mean Google does not view what is happing on Bing and other search engines; as Danny Sullivan points out but Google is gluing to its story of not utilizing that information for influencing search ranking.

Google will markedly be making improvements to its disclosure process which is a bit ironic considering that it was a big part of Matt Cutts’ argument when he and Bing’s Harry Shum argued about the entire thing on stage at a recent search event.

Stay tuned with SEO Global Expert for more updates.

Bing has added a novel feature to its search results in enhanced auto results; which exhibits information about automobiles right on search results pages. The Bing team writes:

Now you can search for your favorite car and Bing will assemble all of the important information (price, Fuel Economy, user rating, listings in your area) as well as quick links to additional information right within the search result.

Simply enter in the make and model and Bing autos will pull together everything you need to research in one place. You use the filters in the left rail to narrow down your search by model, price, year or comparable vehicle.

You can view the feature in a video exhibited here or you can just go to Bing and try it out. I find that for certain queries; you have to add a year to obtain the results to come up immediately though if you leave it off; you can yet get to the results by clicking on one of the options in the left rail.

The feature is along the lines of recently launched Bing features like those for sports tickets and TV listings. The feature without doubt falls in line with Bing’s whole “decision engine” philosophy it launched with from the beginning- offering answers directly in search results without offering the need to click through to other websites to get information.

The auto results provide information from MSN Autos plus when you click through on the links within these links; that is where you will be taken.

Stay tuned with SEO Global Expert for more updates.

Bing announced certain exclusive features for the Golden Globes which are a boon for all those who are unable to watch the ceremony this evening. One feature is namely Golden Globe instant answer and is basically what its name implies.

You can search Bing for “Golden Globes” and obtain an instant answer at the top of the results; exhibiting pertinent content. Here you can view nominees, past winners, etc.

Another feature; Golden Globe visual search gallery allows you to check out nominees in all the different categories visually. “Whether you’re looking for ‘best original score’ or ‘best motion picture’, you can sort by category in a matter of clicks,” avows the Bing team.

Microsoft has a Golden Globes guides as well which you can check out to catch up. “To help prime you for the ceremony, MSN Entertainment has created a guide for the event with comprehensive coverage on the nominees, red carpet coverage from the event, photos and videos of the stars and even the latest celebrity news,” the Bing team avows.

The content will certainly be updated as the ceremony goes on and afterwards; so if you cannot watch it but are interested in results then this is definitely a good place to find what you are looking out for.

Granted; the results will undoubtedly be all over Google, Facebook, Twitter plus everywhere else on the internet.

Stay tuned with SEO Global Expert for more updates.

The deadline for Yahoo search marketing advertisers to convert their campaigns to Microsoft’s adCenter is just round the corner. You have had more than enough time to do but there are no doubt certain procrastinators out there.

“Given what a busy time of year this is for everyone, both personally and professionally, you may have the feeling that there’s something you’re supposed to do, but haven’t yet. Did you forget something?“ asks Microsoft’s Ricky Poole.

“With all of the holiday hustle and bustle, I wanted to take a minute to remind any of you in the US and Canada who may still have campaigns in Yahoo! Search Marketing that the transition tool will be closing on January 5, 2011,” he adds. “If you have not yet transitioned your PPC accounts from Yahoo! to adCenter, after January 5th you will need to do so manually through exporting and importing your campaigns.”

Yahoo and Microsoft completed the search transition in United States plus Canada in the month of October. Microsoft even extended its adCenter backing hours during the transition.   Stay tuned with SEO Global Expert for more updates.

Bing has brought in destination pages for city searches. If you go to a city’s page you will discover information about events, flights, weather, news etc. related to that city. You can find them by just searching on Bing for a city and clicking destinations tab.

“The new feature assembles all of the relevant information about a destination on one page so you can research a city before you go,”explains David Lindheimer of Bing Travel.   “The top things you need to plan your trip – including flight information, a list of hotels in the area, popular attractions, local events, local news, civic photos, a map and a weather overview – are now in one place.”

“Click into each of the sections to see a full list or gallery relevant to the city,” says Lindheimer. “If you’re searching for a local city, Bing can recognize that you’re close and serve up results accordingly. Let’s say you’re thinking of travelling to Miami this winter. Type Miami, FL into the search box, and click ‘Explore City’ to check out the destination city.”

Like Bing’s recently launched artist pages for music information these destination pages could probably utilize a bit of work. For instance; the one for our hometown Lexington; KY appears to have good information at first glance but you will also oddly find a listing on the left-hand side for castles.

Interestingly enough; while we do have a castle quite close to the airport; Bing has four listings under castle and they appear to all be castles in Italy. In all fairness we do have white castle plus castle jewelry location but those are not appearing in the listings either.

Yet; Bing’s destination pages undoubtedly do appear to be valid if you are looking out for flight information, news, maps or weather. There are also additional helpful links presented in the left-hand panel. The pages are available for more than 3,000 cities across the globe. The content; Bing avows is contextual based on user location.

Stay tuned with SEO Global Expert for more updates.