SEO is Dead! Where is Your Audience Searching?

Other Ways People Search

SEO is Dead! Well, maybe your Google SEO

Why is SEO important? Because the majority of people search on the Internet to find things…reviews, contact numbers, shopping etc. But what is Search? Google? Yahoo?

If you’re search engine optimization campaign is targeting Google, then what are you doing about the “searches” on Del.icio.us, Technorati, StumbleUpon, Yelp, Wikipedia, Oodle and even Digg? Maybe those searches are not for the mainstream (yet), but it maybe where the Linkerati, the savvy “Influencers”, go?

Is your SEO really just “Google Search Optimization”? Have you brainstormed with your marketing team to see if your company, product and/or service needs to do more?

The Linkerati: Where Are They?

Rand Fishkin has made much about how SEO folks need to make sure their linkbait (and ditto for Viral/WoM campaigns) needs to cater to the Linkerati audience, the savvy online influencers who create and forward content.

But moving beyond finding what appeals to the Linkerati, is the need to find out where are they online, We need to diversify our thinking on 1) how where/how they create content; and 2) how they find content.

Recently, ValleyWag noted that while the number of active blogs tracked by Technorati has stagnated “personal publishing is still growing, but the fastest growth is occurring on social media properties”, such as MySpace, Digg, Yelp, and Twitter. Indeed, a recent study suggests that “40% of all social networkers said they use social networking sites to learn more about brands or products that they like”.

Questions to Ask:

  1. Where are my customers? Who are the influencers within those circles?
  2. Where do they search?
    (Do they search on Yelp, Technorati, Digg or Del.icio.us?)
  3. Have I distributed my content there?
    (E.g. Placement of Yelp, Blog on Technorati, Content on Digg, Bookmarked on Del.icio.us)
  4. Is it searchable? Or, simply, Findable? Is it “optimized”?

Counter Point: Who needs the Linkerati? Web-2-What and Big Seed Marketing.

There is the question of how important the Linkerati crowd is in shear physical numbers and how important the Linkerati and influencers are in general.

In May’s Harvard Business review, Duncan Watts and Jonah Pertti proposed the idea of “big-seed marketing” as opposed to “Influencer”-based viral marketing, which:

combines viral-marketing tools with old-fashioned mass media in a way that yields far more predictable results than “purely” viral approaches like word-of-mouth marketing.
…
big-seed marketing harnesses the power of large numbers of ordinary people, its success does not depend on influentials or on any other special individuals; thus, managers can dispense with the probably fruitless exercise of predicting how, or through whom, contagious ideas will spread.

The Tiny Linkerati

According to a Pew Internet May 6 study, 49% of the US audience are those that have “few “tech assets” and limited use of technology”. The survey goes on to show how little of the US audience are among the Web 2.0 Internet savvy. They are so little of them. Is it worth the effort on being on Yelp, Twitter, Digg, MySpace etc to appeal to them?

Of Course, It Depends

It is important to understand that you can create online marketing success without getting caught in the buzz about about “influencers” or the Linkerati. It depends what market your client and your customers are in. Of course, innovation carries risk – but this is not to forsake the long-hanging fruit for risk taking and vice-versa. You need both.

Comments

6 responses to “SEO is Dead! Where is Your Audience Searching?”

  1. Michael Brito Avatar

    Daniel – great post. I agree with you when you write that “you can create online marketing success without getting caught in the buzz about “influencers” or the Linkerati”. I would just add that while it’s not “imperative” to be present in the social media sites you listed above; but it won’t hurt either, regardless of what kind of business it is.

    I would also add that with the overwhelming adoption of broadband and user generated contest, the Linkerati profile will eventually change. It should be fun.

  2. Daniel R Avatar
    Daniel R

    Michael,

    Thanks for sharing your comments.

    On: “overwhelming adoption of broadband and user generated contest, the Linkerati profile will eventually change.”

    That’s something I’m wondering about too. Will there be an eventual fatigue when everyone is doing it and the noise level becomes too high? Or will we see enough niche social media websites, so that people will feel part of a community and stay?

    What are you guys at Yahoo betting on?

    Com’on let us know. 😉

    If verticalization does happen then what of marketing and scalability? One of the strengths of the Internet marketing is scale, if users start to stay within specific niche areas this would drive up the cost, non?

  3. Michael Brito Avatar

    Daniel – not sure what the forecast will be as it relates to the linkerati profile, although I do think it will skew to the younger audience. And with all the recent acquistions, it’s clear that there will be many more consolidations in the social media space. Marketing will continue to be more challenging as these social media sites grow and consoidate. Oh, and sorry, but I can’t give away the secret sauce! : )

    Talk to you soon.

  4. […] Just recently I wrote: If you’re search engine optimization campaign is targeting Google, then what are you doing about the “searches” on Del.icio.us, Technorati, StumbleUpon, Yelp, Wikipedia, Oodle and even Digg? Maybe those searches are not for the mainstream (yet), but it maybe where the Linkerati, the savvy “Influencers”, go? […]

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