SEO or Social Media – Is SEO needed now that Social Media has arrived?
January 18th, 2010 | by Peter Cullen |There has been a huge increase in ‘noise’ about social media and how it’s changing the way people are experiencing the web.
But is the experience of the web really changing for everybody?
Is social media really changing the way everyone interacts with the web? It’s certainly making it easier to stay in touch with people you connect to or follow. Is it changing the way people find things, new things? I would have to say yes it is, at least for me it is, but am I a typical web user? I’m involved in online marketing, I use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to varying degrees of success. I follow and connect and tweet, I’m a fan and a blogger! But am I you average web user?
What I want to know is, ‘Is my experience of the web seen as leading/bleeding edge, or is everyone like me? Does everyone look at their Twitter client on the way home from work? Does your average web Joe think about integrating their Twitter updates into their Facebook account?
I wondered, how I could get an insight into what was an average users experience of the web??
How do they use it, how would I even define what an average user was. I gave up on this futile exercise and decided another approach was needed1 How can I gain an insight into what people are searching on over time? Answer – Google Trends – of course!
I entered SEO and Social Media and chose the country United States. I reckoned for sure that Social Media would be way out in front as the US is typically ahead of the curve on these things. I was quite surprised at the graph Google produced below.
This graph shows that the gap between the number of people searching for SEO as compared to Social Media has been narrowing since the start of 2009. (If you forget the end of the year when the holiday season warps figures).
I was expecting to see Social Media way out in front when it comes to people looking for information, but when it came to the number of searches executed on Google, the term ‘SEO’ led the way for all of 2009. Conclusion? A lot of average web users are looking for SEO related information.
Now, look at the second part of the graph above – social media in this one is above SEO! This is a graph of the news reference volume during 2009. These sources I would suggest are not your average web user, they are in the news industry, probably the technology news industry mostly. This graph shows that the news volume for SEO related stories remained steady throughout the year, whereas the news volume for ’social media’ has been steadily growing, and has been above SEO for most of the year.
What does the same graph look like for the UK?
This picture is slightly different in the UK. The gaps between the number of searches during 2009 for ’seo’ and ’social media’ are much more pronounced. Again though you can see that the news volume is greater for social media.
At the start of 2009 the news volume for SEO and Social Media were much the same, but as the year went on and social media became more of a buzz , more technology journalists wrote about it, and I guess people like me started to blog about it.
So, what does this mean?
Well, the US is ahead of the curve when it comes to the average users knowledge and understanding of the web. On both sides of the pond though, technology writers and those in the online marketing business seem to be talking up a storm about social media and it’s benefits.
When it comes to business and your average web user, I think they are mostly coming to terms with SEO and it’s benefits in Europe, where as in the US, your average business owner/web user would appear more more aware about social media and are motivated to search and find out more about it.
Another angle this could be looked at is by asking, who’s searching on the keyword term ‘SEO’? Is it business owners? Is social media dominated by individual users, with businesses not quite getting their head around it yet?
What about your experience?
Are you a technology journalist? Is most of your writing, related to doing business online, focused on social media these days?
I’d be especially interested to hear from people who wouldn’t normally use the web as part of their daily work.
Maybe from marketing people in SME’s who are thinking about the best way to use the web for their business.
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13 Responses to “SEO or Social Media – Is SEO needed now that Social Media has arrived?”
By SEO Sheffield on Jan 20, 2010 | Reply
This is a really detailed article. I think that social media really should be used in conjunction with SEO. But in cases where the keywords for SEO are so highly competitive, social media can definitely seem as though it’s having a much higher impact.
By the way, loving the changes that have been made to the Interleado Workbench. Much faster. Thanks again.
By Peter Cullen on Jan 20, 2010 | Reply
Thanks for your kind comments Samantha, do you have any case studies you’d like to share re seo vs social media?
Maybe a guest blog appearance?
By SEO Sheffield on Jan 22, 2010 | Reply
I certainly have a case study that shows that SEO isn’t always necessary. One of our clients has a website that gets quite a lot of direct traffic and rank well in search engines. But wanted to connect with people and have discussions with people who might find their site useful. And to generate interest.
We set up accounts with three social networks. They’ve only been up and running for about 6 months maximum, but have had good results already.
I’d be happy to write this case study as a guest blog if you email me a brief
By Mark Gilvey on Jan 27, 2010 | Reply
SEO is still necessary because not all businesses have the resources to participate in it. Take small businesses for example. They don’t have the people or the time to build back links (forget the one’s who don’t build back links even though you tell them how important it is) or chat on the social networks so all they have left is their website and where it appears in the search engine results. Therefore they should at least invest in SEO to help get them higher in the rankings. Chances are if they are doing this, their website is being cared for and adjusted to keep the company looking like they are on top of their game and not a neglected and poorly communicated site? I mean, what you are proposing is that I could launch a really bad website and just rely on my powers to communicate through social media and there would be no problem—does that make sense?
Also, even though the phone companies show how much more coverage they have across the country, their customer base for who is able to afford the luxury of having a device to text on is still relatively small. I for one find it really uncomfortable to text on number keys and I can’t afford to put a whole family on a righteous texting device as much as I’d like to.
It would be interesting to see the influences of certain age groups have on your trend results.
By Peter Cullen on Jan 28, 2010 | Reply
Hi Mark, thanks for your comments and I agree that SEO is still very much necessary.
it was not my intention to suggest that SEO is no longer of benefit, more to highlight the crowing impact of SEO.
By Brian Bluff on Feb 4, 2010 | Reply
Very nice job and great use of Google trends. I believe:
social media = branding
seo = sales
Both are important and necessary and there is overlap. However, at the end of the day I want my site to be positioned directly in front of a prospect at the exact moment they have a need. If I’ve done my job with social media, my brand will “stick out” and I improve my chances of earning the prospects business.
By Rick Short on Feb 4, 2010 | Reply
Asking, “Is SEO necessary …?” or, “Are you using SEO?” is like asking a person if they are on a diet. Even if the person is eating anything they want, they are on a diet: their diet!
And, everything you do online is your version of affecting your “search” results. Every term must be defined (I sound like Bill Clinton), for example, you may define “search” to mean only Google Alerts while someone else may define it to mean, “when people search for the following keywords …”
Following, what is the definition of “engine”? Is it Google? Or is it an RSS feed that your customer has set up? Or is it your Twitter sending your tweets to your tweeple? The answer is, whatever you want to use!
So, I think the question is flawed. Whether you hope people only experience you in Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, your blog, etc., you are being found by people looking (searching) for you in some way.
By Peter Cullen on Feb 6, 2010 | Reply
@ Rick thanks for dropping by, I agree that every term must be defined as so many people are using the same words but takling about different things. I beleieve the new definition of SEO is any activity that helps to promote your business on a SERP
By Peter Cullen on Feb 6, 2010 | Reply
@ Brian, totally agree but I think sometimes people lose that subtle different in getting attention and getting attention at the right time!
By Joyce Kuras on Feb 7, 2010 | Reply
Hi: I am a freelance writing. Right now, I am actively writing SEO article and blog content for an email campaign software company, along with biotech and hitech firms. I have had to read case studies, articles and blogs to understand the entire circle of life surrounding email and internet campaign marketing, along with Social Media.
As I researched Social Media Marketing as well, I found that both are necessary. I worked for a Google Analytics Manager who understood how to get his company’s SERPs in the first 5 search results. He believed in using everything there was to bring valuable hits and sales to their website, which he does.
I am not as knowledgeable on this subject as most are above with their comments, but common sense dictates to use all the resources that are available to you, especially in this bad economy with the record breaking job losses.
From Guerilla marketing and up, every creative channel should be tried and tested.
Respectfully submitted,
Joyce Kuras
By Kandi M. Humpf on Feb 7, 2010 | Reply
Unfortunately, I am also part of the group that normally uses the web as part of my daily work. However, I work with clients that range from being better than myself when it comes to social media to clients that feel like nobody uses the web for major purchases.
In each case, I can show them the amount of traffic available on search engines and on social media networks.
For my clients, it’s usually split – purchasing agents aren’t looking on social media networks so we target them using seo and engineers/techies are looking on social media networks so we target them using LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter (among others when necessary).
I think the strongest argument can be made for being in both places. If you ignore one in favor of the other, then you ARE going to miss part of your target audience. And we never want that to happen.
I like your definition of SEO – “any activity that helps to promote your business on a SERP”. I also agree with Brian that for the most part, social media is branding and seo is sales. Another way to say it is social media is customer support and seo is purchasing. A successful company that retains clients will have both departments manned by experienced, skilled employees.
I also like Rick’s question about definitions. With traditional search results being replaced by personalized, social, geo-targeted search results; the traditional way of seo is being updated to include these newer outlets. And for engine, even YouTube is considered a search engine with it’s own trends, insights and keyword research tools. But like you, when we use the term seo in our office, we mean the traditional search engine result pages.
We choose to use the phrase Internet Marketing because anytime a prospective client opens a browser, we want them to think of us. We’ve even installed custom toolbars so they can always see us. Wherever our audience is, we will be there with our clients.
By Peter Cullen on Feb 8, 2010 | Reply
@Kandi, thanks for the comments. I agree that you have to be in both places, SEO and Social Media attract different people at different stages of the buying cycle.
By Peter Cullen on Feb 8, 2010 | Reply
@Joyce, thanks for dropping by and for the comments. Guerilla marking can be great to laterally promote your business!