The Secrets of Social Bookmarking for SEO

Secondly, there are a number of useful social bookmarking for SEO sites which dofollow links back. These websites are smaller in size and seem to appear and disappear a lot, so while they are not great in the long term, they are useful for a one time boost. Mind you, they won't be sending lots of traffic your way, but they are providing a backlink to your site: no more and no less.

By now you might know that most good social bookmarking sites place nofollow commands on links, meaning that these are not useful for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies. So, you may rightly ask yourself if having a social bookmarking strategy is not helpful for getting top spots on Google. Is social bookmarking for SEO useless? Happily, the answer is no.

First of all, widespread exposition to your content on big sites can get you noticed on other, smaller sites that dofollow links. By having your work exposed on prestigious sites, you yourself gain prestige. Indirectly, this means links because people will not only read your current work, but will also be more likely to read your future work if you become a respected voice in your niche market.

But there is a more important factor to take into account and which has to do with SEO and its dangers. A recent change in Google's algorithm left thousands of companies in the U.S. floundering when they suddenly found they had dropped full pages on their Google rankings. They had gone from making a living to making virtually nothing in just one day. Social bookmarking can protect you against this. If you share helpful and important content on delicious or any other site, and your business is good, you can 'transfer' a portion of the community onto your site and make them regular clients. In this way, not only will you see a surge in revenue, but you will also protect your business against these sudden modifications in the Google algorithm.

In conclusion, social bookmarking for SEO is mainly an indirect process, but a useful one as long as you remember that content is still king and that you work patiently. By spending less than an hour a day - every day! - engaging users and luring them to your site, you will see solid long term results which will bring about a lot of positives for your business, making it more solid against the unforeseen changes that Google brings about.

I know, I just said content is king and some SEO's out there may be wringing their hands. But that's the whole point of a good social bookmarking for SEO strategy (aside from participation): sharing great content and getting it noticed by lots of other users and websites.

Social Bookmarking Tips For You

Whether you are a newbie or a veteran in social media, it's always good to get new social bookmarking tips. We're talking about a field which doesn't belong to the sciences, and therefore does not have one correct way of going about things. So no matter how much experience you have, it's always important to keep investigating what other say about social bookmarking.

Something I always like reminding people of is that social bookmarking works in many directions. If you just focus it with one objective in mind, you will be missing out on the great possibilities it can offer you and your business.

The most common mistake business owners make is to see social bookmarking sites as mere platforms where they can post all their news and hopefully get some extra traffic. My view is that if that's your point of view, you are missing out on some good things.

First of all, you're not taking advantage of the social bookmarking sites themselves. By not participating actively in them, commenting and getting feedback from other users, you're not engaging people in your activity and therefore are only getting a fraction of the traffic you could be receiving. People like involvement and forming part of a community. If a business owner also takes part in that community, albeit not in a pushy way, they love it. What do I mean by not being pushy? Do not try to sell them stuff. If you give out useful and knowledgeable information, they will know that when they want to buy, you are the person to go to. If they don't want to buy yet or are not sure and you try to sell a product, you won't be a member of the community, just an annoying advertisement.

But that is not all. By not participating in these kinds of communities, you are also guilty of not studying the market and learning from user experience. If you think you know everything about your market, sorry to say it, but you are wrong. If you are sure that you don't know everything about your market, take this social bookmarking tip from me: these sites are great places to start or continue learning. Find your niche on them and join the conversation.

And when I talk about forming communities, take into account that part of these communities can tend to shift from one platform to another. That means that if you are helpful enough on Digg or Reddit and your product is good enough on your own site, you can grab a number of regular users on the one community and bring them to your site, making them loyal clients. This only has benefits: not only will you boost your revenue, but you will also be less vulnerable to changes in Google algorithm which might bring your position way down, as has happened recently to a number of businesses.