Gone are the days when SEO and social media did not mix. If you take one look at Google and Bing these days, you’ll also know social media content are also a part of the search results that are thrown up these days.

This makes it important for social media experts to pay closer attention to SEO especially if they want to direct traffic to their pages over the internet. For this you’ll have to think like an SEO experts as well.

So here are steps by which you can optimize your social media content:

#1: Keyword Research

Use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool in order to look for keywords that your customers might be looking for. When you use this tool, look for the number of searches as well as the competition which ranges from medium, difficult and use them in your social media content.

#2: Use Social Segments for Tracking

Make sure you set up tracking for social segments in Google Analytics so that you know what’s happening in terms of numbers.

#3: URL Shorteners make a difference

Using a URL shortener will provide additional traffic to your site along with the usual amounts of traffic as well. Just make sure that you use a service that also makes a provision to be able to track the traffic that comes in to your site.

#4: Make sure your content can be linked to easily

Building direct links to your site is important. One of the ways by which you can increase traffic is by adding buttons such as StumleUpon, Facebook and Twitter. A simple way to handle this is by making the link to your page available so that people can share wherever they would like.

Understanding SEO comes from years of working with strategies, some that might work while others might not. It’s not easy to determine what works all of the time, thanks to Google’s secrecy when it comes to search engine optimization.

However, with a few years of experience in SEO, you can easily separate the wheat from the chaff i.e. debunk SEO myths that have been doing the rounds for a while now.

So here are 3 common SEO myths that people should avoid buying into:

#1: All SEO strategies are Black Hat in nature

Some people are of the perception that all SEO strategies are Black Hat in nature. Nothing can be further from the truth. Black Hat SEO strategies are essentially strategies that try to ‘cheat the system’ set up by Google. Conversely, White Hat strategies are those that are within the guideline set by Google, and probably what you should use if you want search engine to find your website.

#2: SEO is more technical than content related

Sadly, or fortunately for some of us, SEO is all about content. Inbound links and Metatags are made up content themselves. It’s important to be aware that without quality content, it’s unlikely that your website will feature in the top search listings.

#3: Focus on Search Engines when writing content

Again, if you focus your content towards visitors who need information, you’ll optimize your site for search engines as well. Try not to focus on search engines when writing content but the people who use the search engine instead. As simple as this sounds, this strategy always works!

If there’s anything that’s true of SEO, it’s the fact that the information you get using Google Search these days has diversified into list of videos, maps, images and social cues as well. So, if you have a business that depends on search engines, then you should be aware of the gradual evolution of modern SEO.

So here are some tips that should help you optimize your business to modern SEO standards:

#1: Anticipate Keywords from People

Search Optimization has always been about anticipating what your customers are looking for, and providing them the information in the search results. This fact is not going to change anytime soon. The more you begin to look at keywords as someone sitting somewhere typing a question, the more likely you are to find success at SEO.

#2: Great content is still the most important factor

The “content is king” has always been another important factor in SEO yet cheating the system by obtaining paid and spam links isn’t going to get you anywhere – and still people do this as they’ve lost touch with the fundamentals. Keep in mind that the focus should be on offering great content on your site as well as across other sites as well.

#3: Analyzing the data is vital

Very simply, use Google Analytics to track results of your SEO practices so far, and it will tell you a lot through its key performance indicators than you can imagine. Just looking at ranking reports of keywords won’t be enough to give you accurate readings.

Ripoffreport.com is not just any consumer complaint website; it ranks high in major search engine results for any given brand or company mentioned on the site. In other words, if your business is listed on Ripoffreport.com, everyone can see. More importantly, if your business is listed on Ripoffreport.com, it can shatter your success and how consumers view your company.

Reputation management is nothing new; business owners have had to deal with this aspect of running a business long before the internet was introduced. However, the web has a way of bombarding consumers with a wealth of information, including negative critiques, which is then replicated by algorithms and search engines, and spread as quickly as the Black Death plague. Consequently, it is nearly impossible for business owners to manage their online reputations without the help of professional online reputation management firms.

If you’ve researched online reputation management, you know that it is impossible to remove a negative review on Ripoffreport.com and other similar sites. But hope exists for businesses listed on Ripoffreport.com; there are several ways to bury the negative content to the second or third page of search engine results, and potentially repair your online reputation in the process.

One way to combat negative online reviews, for example, is to create a lot of social media profiles and be active on them. Often times Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and other social media profiles will rank highly for a given brand or comapny name. There are hundreds of smaller social media sites that can help as well, such as Hi5, Flickr, Digg, Stumbleupon and more. Creating profiles on these sites maunually could be a daunting task, which could take hours, if not days. Fortunatly, there is a service out there that you can use, if you do not want to do this yourself. iClimber’s Social Profile Creation service would create up to 300 social media profiles for you.

While it will remove Ripoff Report listing per se, an optimized social media profile can improve your online reputation by ranking higher than the negative feedback on sites like Ripoffreport.com.

Ripoffreport.com can be disastrous for your business. While you may not have the power to avoid negative reviews online, you can take the steps to protect your online reputation by bringing in professional help.

It’s not enough to just choose the right social media network for your quality content. You’ll have to submit it as well. But is that where it all ends?

This is hardly so, because the next stage is often the one which determines the success of your social media campaign.

So here are a few things that you need to do right after you’ve made your submission:

#1: Ensure that you participate in the conversation

Comments either to support or debate a particular point of your submission are where it all begins. Don’t forget to participate in the conversation because adding your point of view as the author always counts for a lot. Being able to rate comments will also result in how your post is perceived, so this is something that you have to look for.

#2: Ask people in your network for help

It isn’t such a bad thing to ask your friends for help especially if you need to get your ratings up. All you have to be careful is not to annoy them to raise your ratings time and time again. You must understand that there is a fine line of asking for help and abusing this right over and over again.

#3: Use the networking features of the community

Using the networking features of the community is the next thing that you should do since it will not only present your post to your friends but also to other users of the community. This will not only spread the word but help you find support for what you intend to convey.

Bloggers normally place a lot of emphasis on generating traffic from social media. In most cases, this focus helps you to generate impressive stats in terms of volume and creates exposure for your blog there are certain limitations with sourcing traffic from social media.

So here are three common limitations that you must be aware of especially if you are looking to build traffic by using the power of social media alone:

#1:  Social media traffic is not the best way to make sales

If you are selling a product, statistics have shown that the only a tiny percentage of visitors will buy a product or service that is being offered. However, you can and should use social media to get their attention.

What this does is not only increase the traffic to your blog but it improves your search engine rankings! So it’s an indirect way of helping you getting sales but no more than that.

#2: Not a source for long-term or repeat traffic

The truth is that if you wish to generate traffic using the medium of social media, you might be very disappointed as the traffic is only generated for a few days after which you will have to publish new content to generate more traffic. Social media is not necessarily a medium for long-term or repeat traffic.

#3: Great content is a must

No matter whether you have a strong network of friends who will vote your submissions repeatedly; great content is imperative, as the former approach of getting them to do a favor for you won’t last very long. And most bloggers are aware that it’s only once in a while that they are able to produce ‘great content’.

Search Engines have around for a while now, and are getting smarter and better at knowing the ranking that each and every website truly deserves.

So, in order to stay on top of your game, here are three outdated SEO tactics, and alternatives that suggest what you should do instead.

#1: Purchasing Links
Most people tend to buy links from other websites to boost their ranking without realizing that this is a violation of Google’s Webmaster guidelines. If Google finds out, not only can the consequences include you dropping in the rankings but being removed from the search results.
The only way by which you can avoid this is to generate content in the form of podcasts, articles and videos that will attract traffic, and back links.

#2: Internet Press Releases
As there are a lot of companies that will release your press releases for you so that your company get some online attention and back links, this strategy does not work because getting links from unknown sites will not improve your rankings, and you end up spending a lot of money for nothing.
Instead, try and find websites where you can get in touch with journalists who need sources for their stories.

#3: Adding your website link to blog comments
When posting comments, some people add their links as well, and this is not only annoying for blog owners but it doesn’t add any value SEO-wise. It’s always best to leave helpful and encouraging comments.
Only promote your website when the content posted on the blog is relevant to what you have on offer.