Tips for improving your LinkedIn SEO

May 24, 2010 By Matthew Gain 34 Comments

This is the third in a series of posts I have published on improving the SEO around your personal brand. In this post I wanted to share some tips on improving the SEO of your LinkedIn Profile.

Before I start, I want to be clear that even if you follow these tips it is unlikely you will be screaming to the top of the Google search results. Having a blog that you update regularly is by far and away a more effective medium for improving your personal search rankings. However, if you are not that way inclined, or are already blogging, these things will not do you any harm and are worth trying out – even if it is just so you will have a completed LinkeIn profile.

Tips for improving the SEO of your LinkedIn Profile:

Complete your LinkedIn profile. Before doing anything else, make sure your LinkedIn profile is complete and up to date. There is absolutely no point in improving your search engine rank if the end destination does not represent you accurately. I wouldn’t go too overboard trying to game the system, but search engines do scan the information in your profile, so make sure you are including the keywords you want associated with your name.
Customise your URL. You can customise the URL associated with your profile to include your name, rather than the random sequence of numbers LinkedIn generates for you. URLs are incredibly important component of SEO, so this is a no brainer. (learn how to do this by watching the video below tip 7).
Pay special attention to your job title and location. Your location and job title are the only personalised pieces of information provided on a generic search for your name on LinkedIn. There is not often a lot of flexibility in job roles, but perhaps think about how you can present your title in the most effective way to include desired keywords.
Search result showing job title
Include your entire job history.People may be looking for you by searching for previous companies you have worked for. If these are not included in your profile then you may not be found. This is particularly important for people with more common names.
The result when you search Matthew Gain Howorth (an old employer)
Specialities. Make sure you fill out all the sections. A particularly good section for including keywords is the Specialities section. Google does index this section, so make good use of it.
Join related groups. There is an enormous value in joining LinkedIn groups beyond SEO. From an SEO perspective they help by associating the name of the group with your search profile. Search for Groups that are aligned with your professional interests. The Group names will typically include relevant keywords for you.
Customise your links. Rather than the generic, blog, company website or Twitter links that LinkedIn generates you can customise your personal URLs to generate more potential Google Juice. This is a little bit involved, so check out this handy video created by Mike Volpe of HubSpot.

Answer questions. I have heard it suggested that you can improve your search rankings by responding to questions on LinkedIn, thus creating link backs to your profile. I would imagine Google is clever enough to ignore this, but perhaps I am wrong? Irrespective, answering questions does raise your profile generally and is a good idea, so I have included.

As I stated above by following these you are unlikely to dramatically shift your search engine rankings, but they won’t hurt. Well worth an hour or so of your time in my opinion.

Are there any suggestions that I have missed? Do you disagree with any of the above? I am no SEO expert, so would love to update this post with additional suggestions or improvements.

This post of a series of posts I am making on SEO tips to improve your personal search brands. Other posts you can view are:

If you enjoyed this post why don’t you subscribe to my blog via RSS or email by following this link. Follow me on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn.

Full disclosure, LinkedIn is a client of my future employer Edelman, but they have had no involvement with this post.

If you enjoyed this post why not subscribe to my blog via RSS or email by following this link. Also whilst you're at it why not follow me on Twitter.

Filed Under: Featured, Personal Brand SEO, Professional Posts, SEO, social media Tagged With: Australia, Digital PR, LinkedIn, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, Serch Engine Optimization, social media, Sydney

The role for the CMO in Social

May 13, 2010 By Matthew Gain Leave a Comment

Forrester Analyst Mary Beth Kemp, has posted on her blog the graphic below outlining ways CMOs can be leading the integration of social across an entire organisation.

The role for the CMO in social

Following from the graphic I posted earlier in the week, I thought this was an excellent tool to break down the complex area of social into bite size chunks that are understandable and actionable.

It is worth noting that Mary points out in her post that whilst the CMO should be ultimately responsible for driving social, activity should be split across the entire organisation, which I couldn’t agree with more.

The only problem for me with this graphic, as commenters pointed out in my last post, is that this only looks at social from an external marketing point of view. Of course I understand that this has been created with CMOs in mind, but there is enormous benefit for using social from an internal point of view as well. Your employees can be amazing external advocates for your organisation if they are happy and given the right education.

Thus the addition I would make is an internal comms component. I think this would fall in the embrace section and should be in the form of an internal only community for discussion and education. Do you agree?

Filed Under: Advertising/Marketing, PR, Professional Posts, social media Tagged With: Chief Marketing Officer, CMO, forrester, Forrester Resarch, Internal Comms, Mary Beth Kemp, social, social media

Thoughts on the PR Week/Diffusion Digital Integration Report: The Digital Divide

April 28, 2010 By Matthew Gain 11 Comments

UK PR Week, in conjunction with Diffusion PR, last month released a report on the integration of digital into the PR mix, titled PRWeek/Diffusion Digital Integration Report: The Digital Divide. I missed the report when it came out, but have now reviewed and think the findings are worth sharing.

Having worked in both the UK and Australia I believe the markets are fairly similar in the way organisations approach PR and marketing. Of course the budgets here in Australia are much smaller, but generally the way PR is done in the UK and here is similar, so the report and its findings I believe are also relevant for Australia.

Report methodology:

According to PR Week:

a landmark PRWeek survey of 128 clients, drawn from across in-house comms, marketing and digital departments, reveals exactly how organisations are grappling with the challenge of integrating social media into their existing operations.

Key report findings:

To what extent have you embraced social media and digital PR?

to what extend have you embraced social media Thoughts on the PR Week/Diffusion Digital Integration Report: The Digital Divide

To what extent have you embraced social media and digital PR?

Findings - more than 60% of those surveyed stated that social media and digital PR is being used either as an element of most campaigns or a core part of comms strategy. However, roughly 40% use it on an ad hoc basis or not at all.

My view – this result was not surprising for me based on the work I do with my clients. However, I would argue it is those organisations that have integrated social media and digital PR as a core component of their work that are getting the best results. Like any marketing discipline, social media digital PR works best when it is a continuous program, not something that is turned on and off.

With which external agencies do you work on social media?

which external agencies do you work on with social media Thoughts on the PR Week/Diffusion Digital Integration Report: The Digital Divide

With which external agencies do you work on social media?

Findings - 43% do not use an agency, 39% use a PR agency, 29% a digital agency whilst only 8% use a dedicated social media agency.

My view – I was surprised to see such a high number of practitioners responding that responsibility for social media was managed solely inhouse. Not that I am suggesting those inhouse are not suited to social media, quite the contrary in many respects. To me this highlights an unwillingness by client organisations to adequately invest in external social media expertise.

In the traditional space even the best in-house marketing practitioners utilise the support of agencies to deliver their results, why should it be different for social media? Assuming the agency gets it, I think in-house marketing people should be investing a good portion of their budget to extend activities in the social media space (disclaimer – I lead a team of digital PR people at a PR agency).

Where does ownership of social media sit within your organisation?

Who owns social media in your organisation?

Findings – 36% marketing team, 34% PR and comms team, 17% cross departmental responsibility, 7% yet to be decided, 3% dedicated social media team, 2% IT department

My view – social media is about engaging in a two way conversation with an organisation’s customers and public. Whilst there are multiple departments that talk to an organisation’s target market, there has traditionally only been one that has engaged in a two way dialogue – the communications department. As such, it is my belief that the communications department/PR team is best placed to develop strategy and lead direction for social media.

What do you see as the key barriers preventing social media adoption in your organisation?

barriers to social media adoption Thoughts on the PR Week/Diffusion Digital Integration Report: The Digital Divide

What do you see as the key barriers to social media adoption within your organisation?

Findings – 45% inability to demonstrate clear ROI, 40% lack of digital knowledge and understanding, 38% lack of resources and budgets

My view – it is not surprising to me that the top two barriers are a lack of clear ROI and a lack of digital knowledge. When people don’t understand something they typically won’t find a value in it. Fix the lack of education and the clear ROI barrier will be lowered, as will the barrier of budget and lack of resources.

How satisfied are you with your current lead agency’s social media and digital PR abilities?

how satisfied are you with your lead pr agency Thoughts on the PR Week/Diffusion Digital Integration Report: The Digital Divide

How satisfied are you with your lead PR agency's social media capabilities?

Findings – 19% very satisfied, 32% moderately satisfied, 15% very or moderately dissatisfied, 34% unsure.

My view – these results should be concerning for PR agencies. To me it highlights the fact that there are some, but too few PR practitioners with digital PR skills. Everyone involved in PR should be educating themselves in digital PR and agencies should be investing to ensure everyone has a basic understanding.

I have posted below some more graphics from the report.

What do you think about the report’s findings, are they surprising? Do you agree with my opinions? I would love to hear from you in the comment box.

Filed Under: Advertising/Marketing, PR, Professional Posts, social media Tagged With: digital, Digital PR, marketing, PR, pr week, Public Relations, social media

Video interview from the Frocomm 3rd Annual New Media Summit

March 19, 2010 By Matthew Gain 2 Comments

Above is a video that was recorded at the Frocomm 2010 New Media Summit, featuring myself, Brian Geisen (Ogilvy) and Monty Hamilton from UBank.

The content is loosely focussed on advice and future direction of social media.

It is always difficult watching yourself on video. Not entirely sure why I can’t keep my hands still.

Check the original post from Samuel Andruszkiewicz on the Telstra blog.

Posted via web from Matthew Gain’s posterous

Filed Under: PR, Professional Posts Tagged With: Digital PR, Frocomm, Frocomm New Media Summit, New Media, PR, social media, Telstra

Building communities on Facebook – a presentation

March 18, 2010 By Matthew Gain 1 Comment

Presentation at the bottom of this post.

Yesterday I was invited to speak at Frocomm’s 3rd Annual New Media Summit hosted in Sydney. The event was attended by around 150 mainly PR professionals from across a range of industries in Australia and featured other speakers including, David Quilty of Telstra, Paul Borrud of Facebook and industry colleagues of mine Brian Geisen of Ogilvy PR and Dan Young Burson Marsteller. See the full list of speakers here.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to see all the presentations due to work commitments that kept me in the office, but those I did were very interesting, particularly David Quilty’s presentation on how Tesltra the telecom giant is embracing social media practices right across the organisation.

During the day two panel session, which I sat on with Brian Geisen, David Quilty and Monty Hamilton from UBank, questions followed the general themes of justifying social media to the boss, understanding and qualifying measurement through to how social media can be integrated into the general PR and marketing mix.

Having worked in this industry for a little while now it was refreshing to see, based on the questions being asked, that there is now a general realisation within organisations that social media isn’t a fad and that it represents a fundamental shift in the way we need to conduct business. The audience was keen to learn how they can start embracing and undertaking more social work and it was evident whenever practical advice was being provided that frantic notes were being scribbled.

In addition to the panel session, I also presented a half hour session on building communities in Facebook, which I have posted below (For those reading in a reader, or via email check it out here). I created this presentation in an attempt to provide a platform for PR people to justify a presence in Facebook for their organisation and also to act as a roadmap of sorts for building out a Facebook campaign. I hope it fulfils these objectives.

I would love any and all feedback on this presentation. How do you think it could be improved? Have I left any important components out that you think need to be added?

Building Communities in Facebook

View more presentations from Matthew Gain.

Finally, thanks to Glen Frost for the opportunity to speak at the conference.

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Filed Under: Advertising/Marketing, PR, Professional Posts, social media Tagged With: Build, Build Community on Facebook, Building communities on Facebook, Building community on Facebook, Community, Community Building, Community Building on Facebook, David Quilty, Digital PR, Facebook, Frocomm, New Media, New Media Summit, PR, Public Relations, social media, Telstra, UBank

Most Fortune 100 don't get Twitter

November 18, 2009 By Matthew Gain Leave a Comment

Today Weber Shandwick (my employer) released a study highlighting the fact that most of the Fortune 100 companies don’t get how to use Twitter effectively. Though I don’t suspect that was a huge surprise to a lot of people – especially those in the social media space.

The report found that 73 percent of Fortune 100 companies registered a total of 540 Twitter accounts. However, about three-quarters (76 percent) of those accounts did not post tweets very often, and more than half (52 percent) were not actively engaged. (This was measured by engagement metrics such as numbers of links, hashtags, references and retweets.)

In addition, 50 percent of the Fortune 100 accounts had fewer than 500 followers, a small number in relation to the size and reach of a major corporation. Another 15 percent were inactive; 4 percent having been abandoned after being used for a specific event.

Other findings included:

41 accounts appeared to be not controlled by the organisation
76 percent of accounts had made less than 500 tweets
24 percent of the Twitter accounts were primarily used for brand awareness and only 11 percent for customer service

As my colleague Chris Perry, who co-leads our global digital efforts said on Ad Age today:

Most companies fail to realize Twitter’s full potential as a market engagement platform. While 73% of Fortune 100 companies registered a total of 540 Twitter accounts, effectiveness based on level of activity, interaction and engagement were off the mark.

The report makes five recommendations for companies looking to create true engagement and market interaction on Twitter:

1. Listen to conversations
2. Participate in conversations
3. Update frequently with valuable information
4. Reply to people who talk about issues that are important to your company
5. Retweet relevant conversations

I’d be interested to know your thoughts on the study and its conclusions. What has been your experience with big brands on Twitter? How different would the report look if we were analysing companies in Australia and Asia?

Embeddable version of the report here.

If you enjoyed this post why not subscribe to my blog via RSS or email by following this link. Also whilst you're at it why not follow me on Twitter.

Filed Under: Advertising/Marketing, PR, Professional Posts Tagged With: Fortune 100, PR, Public Relations, social media, Twitter, Weber Shandwick

The future of the internet according to Eric Schmidt

October 30, 2009 By Matthew Gain Leave a Comment

Google’s Eric Schmidt on What the Web Will Look Like in 5 Years
- Watch more Tech Videos at Vodpod.

The future of the internet according …”, posted with vodpod

Nice excerpt from Eric Schmidt’s interview at the Gartner Symposium in Orlando here on what the internet will look like in five years.

The key Excerpts for me are:

There will be more Chinese content than English
Assuming the phone manufacturers get it right, more people will be accessing by a mobile rather than PC

But for me the most important comment is:

Most people’s information will be gotten from other information as opposed to traditional information sources. People will listen to other people more than anyone else.

Those in PR that aren’t working to build advocates for their brands outside of the traditional media now, will be well behind the eight ball if Eric’s forecast becomes reality and I tend to think he won’t be wrong.