Social Media vs. SEO
By Erik Qualman
Niall over at SimplyZesty asked Alastair McDermott of WebDoctor and I to write-up some thoughts on SEO versus Social Media in 2010. Here’s the take I supplied:
There will be a blending of search and social. We are already seeing this with Twitter being incorporated into the Google organic results. Consumers we will be privy to a) sponsored listings b) organic listings c) social graph listings. During a purchase decision we will utilize all three of these data points – however I would strongly argue that item c – what our friends and peers think – will be “weighted” the most. We are seeing “word of mouth” transforming into “world of mouth.”
If I have my first baby and need to purchase a child seat for the car and I can see via social/search tools that 30 of my friends have purchased a child seat in the past 18 months. And, of those 30, 23 have purchased the exact same model and all have had a great experience, well then I’m going to be fairly confident in that purchase decision and I may not even look at the sponsored or organic listings.
SEO is still a vital part of any product/companies health (especially in the here and now), but as we look down the road, the simple fact is that I trust more what my friends and peers think than an algorithm. So good companies are starting to listen to what is being said in the “social sphere” and adjusting their products/services accordingly.
The full article at SimpleZesty is here: “The Looming Battle Between SEO and Search”
A big thanks to Niall for reaching out to me as this stuff is fun!
