How Is Social Media Optimization (SMO) Affecting Traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

When we think about Web 1.
0 we instantly think of search engine optimization (SEO) and "getting to the top of the search engines for free.
" Right? Just knowing a few tips and tricks really did have an impact on where a site ranked organically.
Over the last few years, the strategies involved with search engine optimization (SEO) got a little more complex.
Then we started hearing about link farms, reciprocal linking, and all kinds of crazy ways to get people to "link" to your site.
You could even go to eBay.
com and purchase 10,000 links into your website for $99.
00.
So what's the problem here? More links into a site means higher rankings, right? Let's talk about relevancy.
The search engines are always looking for ways to create the best "user experience" possible.
The search engines started placing even more emphasis on link quality and link relevancy.
It was getting tougher and tougher for SEO to work the way it used to.
Hopefully by now you are convinced that social media is not a fad, and is not going away anytime soon.
As a matter of fact, through social media, consumers have essentially forced the hand of search engines to start displaying instant, relevant content.
So if consumers wanted real-time relevant data and Google, Yahoo & Bing are after the best user experience possible, it just made sense to change the way information and websites are ranked.
So how do the search engines now determine who shows up for free? How does social media optimization (SEO) factor into Web 2.
0? Fresh, dynamic & relevant content is what the search engines are looking for now.
If you have a beautiful website that has not been updated with new content in a year or two, you may not be what the search engines are looking for.
Social media optimization (SMO) is really about creating, distributing and managing new relevant content with the intent of creating as many relevant incoming links back to your site as possible.
Essentially, you want to be perceived as the local authority for your industry, product or service.
That's why social media optimization (SMO) is going to play a critical part in your business moving forward.
âÂ?¨Here are a few things that you can do to get your business social media optimized!

• Set up your Facebook, Twitter & YouTube accounts
• Claim your Google, Yahoo & Bing map listings, update your business information, hours, services, reviews, etc
• Set up a blog externally from your site
• Set up accounts with the major review sites such as Yelp, Kudzu & City Search, update your business information and reviews.
  
• Set up a few social bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon & Digg.
  

So now what? The most critical part of creating a social media optimization strategy is creating & distributing new & relevant content to all of the these sites listed above (minus review sites).
What you are trying to do is get your content in as many places as possible in order to have your content indexed by the search engines and begin to rank organically.
Remember, quality and relevant incoming links are what we are after.
Each post, submission or article you write should have links leading back to your website, creating that "authority" that the search engines so love.
This article is meant to be a brief, high level overview of social media optimization (SMO).