Google Page Rank, mention that phrase in a room (virtual or otherwise) of SEO juggernauts, and it spikes a hearty discussion at a minimum. Google’s measuring stick of a web pages value has been debated from being paramount, to irrelevant. Whatever side of the fence you are on, the numbers don’t lie. Have you looked at your sites page rank lately? How about your Twitter profile? With recent changes in how page rank is calculated, it is obviously not irrelevant to Google, and is worth another look.
Google PageRank Impacts Your Twitter Profile
It appears there has been a change in Google Page Rank. This has helped many, and hurt others. Specifically page rank for many popular Twitter users has gone down.
Interestingly, many blogs and websites have benefited from recent changes (including this one), which is an indicator to me that Google is very interested in Twitter and other social media public profile pages.
Helping Google Help Others
It is worth pausing and thinking about Google’s motivation, as it says in their mission statement “to organize the world’s information…” the best way they do this, is by providing relevant and reliable results to searchers… This mindset is worth having for any search engine marketing strategy. Help Google help others. Google helps searchers make sense of it all. Now that social media is on the scene, they are rewarding profiles that help them fulfill their mission.
What is Google Looking For?
What they are looking at specifically on social profile pages like Twitter is up for debate, but if history has taught us anything it likely falls along the lines of:
- Credible inbound links from sources with credible inbound links
- Quality thematic content in their Twitter stream (jumping from dog training to affiliate marketing, to dieting in your twitter stream may get different results than sticking to one theme or topic of discussion… key phrases).
- Outbound links to credible sources.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they are also looking at social measures (retweets, locations, and @ replies).
How To Respond?
No major news alert here, overall I think the changes are good. It shows that Google is concerned, and interested in Twitter. Just bear in mind when you tweet, Google is taking notice (as are your followers).
- Tweet in a way (key phrases) that readers and search engines know what you are talking about.
- Be resourceful (links), and converse using @ (links)
- When you are retweeted (inbound link) thank Tweeple.
- Make sure your other social profiles have links to you Twitter profile
- Goes without saying, always error on the side of tweeting for followers not the search engines.
Interested in checking PR for your Twitter profile page, or website? There are many places to do it, I found checking Google PR here to be good place (thanks to @Zee for the reference).
Chime in: Have you noticed changes in Google PageRank on your Twitter profile? Is Twitter worth including in your Search Engine Markteing Strategy?
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Hi, my name is Travis Campbell, I operate this site. One way I can extend what I've learned marketing online over the years is by writing about it here... and helping you along the way.
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