David ‘Social’ Cameron & Nick ‘SEO’ Clegg – a Digital Marketing Coalition?

Three years ago, I started a new job as an SEO copywriter with the express directive of making websites visible in search results.  36 months on, and it is now consumers who are making themselves visible online, through social networks and digital communications platform.  Is SEO dead?  Can we actually continue to make ourselves visible, when consumers choose whom they want to see – and indeed, whom they want to be seen by?  Is there any point?

The topical Gap logo debacle is surely testament to the fact that consumers are now brand owners, although my personal opinion is that this was a cleverly construed PR stunt to generate buzz around the brand.  Regardless of the intended effect, the outcome of this recent issue adds further credence to the power of social.  Consumers now own brands, and social has undoubtedly been the conduit that has made this achievable.  But social is only half of the story.

Once people are talking about your brand, where is the transaction?  Gap may well be back at the forefront of the collective consumer mind, but if a search in Google generates no results, how does the customer journey continue?

Whereas magazine readers will sit down, engage with and caress a magazine for a discernible period of time, digital customers are fleeting phantoms.  If, as digital marketers, we don’t cover all touchpoints, our potential customers will become bored, frustrated and move on – I’ve behaved exactly like that on more than one occasion.

There’s no doubt that social is now very important for digital marketers – I’d venture so far as to suggest vital.  However, we have to keep social as part of an overall digital toolkit and ensure that we use those other tools convert the transaction that social generates.

Social media may be David Cameron-esque in its relative metaphorical position of power, but make no mistake; without Nick ‘SEO’ Clegg, the digital coalition would not be anywhere as effective.

Google Instant: Not Re-Invention of the Wheel, Just a Change of Direction.

As an SEO copywriter at heart, I have long maintained an avid personal and professional interest in this crucial digital discipline.  Needless to say, the arrival of Google Instant – an engine that delivers results *as you type* – has caused something of a stir in digital circles.  Will this spell a complete re-write (literally) of large digital websites?  Or will well-optimised platforms be nicely positioned regardless of the change in search method?

Here are some key pointers for digital marketers

i) A search by any other name is just as sweet…

Let’s not forget that Google Instant does the same as Google ‘normal’ (Google ‘un-instant?’) – it delivers results based on users’ search requests.  In theory, digital marketers with well-optimised websites should have nothing to fear.  The time and effort that has been invested in SEO will continue to serve to serve them well.  Google Instant is a change in search – but it’s still search.

ii) Redefine your keywords

Of course, this isn’t to say that Google Instant should be ignored completely.  Like it or not, Google is Caesar, and when in Rome…  If the masses do adopt Google Instant as their preferred search method, shorter keywords will become much more significant.  For example, if you have built your SEO strategy around long-tail search strings such as ‘cheap electrical goods with free delivery in the UK’, you may need to refocus this to ‘cheap electrical goods’.  Why?  By the time your customer has typed ‘cheap electrical goods’ – nay, even ‘cheap electrical’ – they will have a stream of search results before them already.

iii) Long-tail search is not dead

Despite the introduction of Google Instant, this does not spell the death knell for long-tail search.  If web users are looking for a specific search string, they’ll continue to type keywords until they find it.  It’s far too easy for businesses to get hung up on being found for a very generic keyword, but consumers are a lot more savvy than we give them credit for.  Don’t get me wrong; if you are a provider of ‘cheap holidays’, you have your work cut out for you – but then this is nothing new.  If you are a manufacturer of bespoke Isle of Wight Oak tree furniture, the chances are people will continue to seek you out traditionally.

In summary?  Google Instant will undoubtedly cause SEO copywriters and digital marketers some work over the next few months, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.  Good SEO copywriters know that you should regularly refresh your copy as best practice anyway, so Google Instant is not the doom-bringer than believe it to be.

This is an excellent opportunity for SEO copywriters and digital marketers to re-establish the keywords that they want to be found for, and to give their online presence a refresh.  Google has not reinvented the wheel – it’s simply given that wheel a new lick of paint and as SEO / digital marketers, it’s our job to ensure that that wheel remains on the right track.