Kasia PerzyńskaIt was on Wednesday evening, February 4th, when Twitter made an agreement with Google to make its 140-character tweets more searchable online. Afterwards, on May 19th, Google was officially given full access to Twitter’s full stream of tweets, commonly called “Firehorse”.
This was not the first deal between the two companies, so everybody was curious as to how it was going to differ from the previous one. Twitter CEO, Dick Costolo, explained briefly that the main idea of the current agreement was to convert people who are not logged-into Twitter more effectively.
Sharing “Firehorse” is beneficial for all searchers as it is a unique way to get news really quickly. Plus, the real-time feedback which shows up in the SERPs is an amazing bonus for all of us! Above all, the deal proved to be beneficial for Twitter itself because it has “…increased the number of logged-out users coming to its site by 10-fold, apparently raising the number from 7.5 million per month to the current 75 million per month.”
Since the deal has been live for a number of weeks, Google is currently indexing 466% more tweets than in February:
However, Google doesn’t index all the tweets that come:
Google remains selective and prioritizes what to index and places the most value on social authority and follower count. Since most valuable tweets are now findable on Google, a well-optimized presence on Twitter takes on a new, more significant meaning, and that’s the topic we are going to discuss within this article.
What Twitter SEO tips should you apply to your Marketing?
These few simple tricks are going to increase the chance of your account showing up in the Google & Twitter Search:
#1 The art of using Keywords
Try to maintain consistent communication and include similar keywords you use on your website. Remember that hashtags play the role of keywords for Twitter; they improve your searchability and help people find your content. Therefore, turn your essential keywords into hashtags because thanks to them, each one of your tweets will appear in the Twitter search for a specific topic and in the Twitter’s Trends Feed. However, avoid overusing hashtags for a single update as this might look spammy and discourage your potential followers. It’s optimal to use up to 3 hashtags for a single tweet. Feel free to add them at the end of a link to an article explaining its field or category.
Once in a while, analyze which hashtags bring you the most engagement: clicks, retweets, likes. Then, optimize your profile by focusing on the more effective ones. Review your results using Twitter analytics and find out what works best for your business.
People usually look for detailed information about a particular topic, so whenever you tweet, remember that the more effort you put in, the more engagement it is going to bring you in return. Also, be sure to always equip your tweets with different media types, such as links, images or videos which let you include much more than 140 characters:
@BanskyOfficial
@SocialMediaToday
Pro-tip: Prepare a special list of hashtags for any new campaign or event organized by your company. Make sure that the hashtags are branded and use them when you tweet about the particular campaign or event.
@SearchEngineJournal #SEJSummit
#2 Optimize Your Profile for SEO
Optimizing your Twitter profile will provide you with long-term searchability.Keeping your username and handle consistent across all of your social channels with your brand name and website maximizes your findability.
Pro-tip: Avoid using numbers within your username and handle because it might seem spammy to Google.
Technically, it’s easy to change your handle and username within the Twitter settings, however, doing so without a particularly important reason is not advisable. It might confuse your current followers and ultimately cause you to lose them. Besides, your verification badge (if you already have one) will be taken away, too.
Verification badge – a blue “Verified” badge that appears on certain Twitter profiles. The badge helps Twitter users get true, verified information directly from public figures and business entities:
@Airbnb
#3 Introduce Yourself
Twitter’s bio is indexed regularly. Craft it well, use up all of the 160 characters to explain what tweets your followers may expect from your profile. Aim for simplicity and be concise. Emphasize the most important aspects of your expertise and remember to promote them in a catchy & creative way.
A pinch of humor is always a good idea, too. 🙂
Here is Buffer’s Kevan Lee’s well-crafted bio:
Also, feel welcome to take a quick look at my modest bio; I’ve crafted it according to the rules given above:
Consider using Twitter’s language like #hashtags and @mentions which play the role of clickable keywords in your bio section. It’s your golden opportunity to link to your official website and make significant improvements to your account’s findability.
By the way, Neil Patel mentioned some key ingredients of a perfect Twitter bio in a post on the Buffer blog. Neil writes- make it:
- Accurate – your bio should include your short professional description.
- Exciting – write something creative. Try using wording that is not boring.
- Targeted – incorporate information about your niche.
- Flattering- include one accomplishment.
- Humanizing- throw in your hobby.
- Intriguing- add one interesting fact or feature about yourself.
- Connected to your business’s website or another social profile.
If you operate more than one Twitter profile you can go ahead and include each in both bios.This will enable your followers to move from one to the other smoothly and help form your group of followers.
The Twitter bio is a postmodern art form, an opportunity in 160 characters or fewer to cleverly synopsize one’s professional and personal accomplishments, along with a carefully edited non-sequitur or two. – The New York Times
Here are some amazing public figures who don’t need an introduction. Look what they have in their bios:
@tomhanks
@HillaryClinton
@KevinSpacey
#4 Adjust Your Profile Photo
Before you upload any profile picture, customize the filename: implement relevant keyword or keywords separated by dashes to make them readable for search engines. This SEO factor does not make the biggest impact, however, it is part of the SEO recipe nonetheless, and the more correctly optimized elements there are, the stronger the synergy effect will be.
Pro-tip: It is recommended to use a 200 x 200 pixels profile picture for a quick and smooth page-load speed.
#5 Link to your website
Including a link to your official website is a strong call to action. Consider which page would be most appropriate and where you want to send your followers. There are plenty of options, however, by SEO standards, most authority usually belongs to the main page of your company’s website, so this is going to be the most reasonable choice. In the case of any temporary campaign or event, you can always link to a special landing page
Pro-tip: Make sure that your website links back to the Twitter account. Mutual linking not only brings more valuable traffic but also gives your profile more credibility in the eyes of Google.
#6 The Retweets Will Double Your Traffic
Retweets are the most effective method for expanding your reach. What is more, unlike on Facebook, it is totally well-seen to ask for retweets and you won’t be penalized for using this clear call to action within your updates. So, feel free to ask for sharing.
Make room for retweets by writing shorter updates. This way, you will let your retweeters comment and mention people in the content they are sharing. The optimum length for retweets is fewer than 120 characters.
#7 Include your social profiles in Search Results
Specify your preferred social profiles, like Twitter or Facebook, to Google and add a markup code to your website. Grab more specific information from the Google Developers site.
Conclusion
This year Google started indexing Tweets into Web search, so leverage this opportunity and optimize your Twitter presence by following these essential Twitter SEO tips I’ve provided within today’s article. I hope you are going to notice positive results really quickly.
Is your Twitter profile optimized for SEO? What tactics are most effective for you? Do you have any additional tips in mind? Let us know in the comments below.
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