Keywords: Take Your SEO Clues From Reality
A Search for Siri vs Watson & Jeopardy Brought My Post to Google Page One
What really brings us up on page one of Google search results? I just took a look at my blog analytics. As I frequently am, I was surprised at what people typed into the Google search field that brought my blog up on page one – out of hundreds of thousands to millions of results. For almost none of these specific search terms did I set out to optimize my posts. But, nonetheless, they came up.
The lesson is that no matter how hard we work on our SEO, the people searching will determine by their searches if they land on our pages. The further reality is that we may or may not ultimately be relevant to what they’re looking for – but we never know.
It’s just a good thing to temper our SEO efforts with an understanding that there are infinite queries that can bring us to someone’s attention. This to me is what’s so exciting about marketing online!!! It’s the ultimate in interactivity with our audiences, and the possibilities are endless.
Here are the searches that brought me up on page one today– plus the url’s for the actual posts that came up with the search results. How relevant do you think my posts might have been to the queries?
- siri Watson http://bit.ly/rMKrdw (same for all of the Watson siri queries)
- siri vs Watson
- watson vs siri jeopardy
- watson siri
- siri versus Watson
- how are apple’s siri and ibm’s watson the same and different?
- siri vs. Watson
- how to identify key messages http://bit.ly/slp4f7
- respect and listening lessons http://bit.ly/swDGrt
- jazz manager ken Blanchard http://bit.ly/vXTYyP
- emily post etiquette social networking tips http://bit.ly/srjnwa
Emily Post Online: About LinkedIn Etiquette
Should Be Called Netiquette
I’m probably dating myself unmercifully by referencing Emily Post (who I learned about in childhood) in the headline. According to Wikipedia, Emily Post (1872 – 1960) was an American author famous for writing on etiquette. She is survived by the Emily Post Institute, which she founded and which subsequent generations – now fourth – of her family continue. Visit emilypost.com for all things etiquette and manners – in both personal and business life.
Well…almost all things. Though the Emily Post site has a Social Media tab, it serves to take one to the various Post social media accounts. I was hoping to find some tips for proper Web 2.0 behavior but did not. So I’ll just have to take a stab at recommending better etiquette for an incident that happened yesterday.
Working at my desk, I saw an email come in announcing that I had an invitation to connect on LinkedIn. When I looked at the invitation, which was from a woman currently running her own online business – a mom blog — here’s what it said:
Hello Ms. Becker,
Terrific article in the Fairfield County Business Journal! I am reaching out to you to inquire if you are currently looking to bring additional marketing communications professionals into your organization. I’d welcome the opportunity to discuss my experience with you. Thank you.
The ‘invitation’ referenced the monthly column I write on Inbound Marketing. At the end of that column – both in the print edition and online — is the email address where I can be reached. Additionally, my email address is in my LinkedIn profile.
To be blunt, I was offended at the use of a LinkedIn invitation from a total stranger to pitch herself for a job. If she had emailed me at the address provided, I would have, at minimum, been happy to steer her in some positive directions to find a marcom position.
Even if I were looking to hire right now – which I’m not – this unsolicited applicant would not be at the top of my list to work in a business that requires client representation and concomitant good judgment. At minimum, it requires that anyone I engage understands social media best practices. Now, in every way, the inviter used perfect Emily Post etiquette – addressing me as Ms Becker and saying ‘Thank you’.
But in terms of social media etiquette, even though she commended my column, her invitation was more about her needs. Rather than showcasing her knowledge of social media, she demonstrated the opposite. For me, LinkedIn is about mutually beneficial networking, not overt selling. I’ve blogged about this before.
I decided to try to contact the woman to explain my reaction and why I did not want to connect with her on LinkedIn. I have a responsibility to those in my network and I won’t connect with someone who might subject them to a similar approach to the one I received.
So I went to her LI profile (which is quite impressive, by the way), did not find an email address, but did find a link to the website she operates, where I hoped to find her email. The only option for contacting her was to fill out a form on the contact page. No email address.
By that time my desire to communicate my concerns about her invitation and maybe help her avoid turning others off in her job search went out the window. Instead, I decided to turn the experience into a blog post and maybe get some discussion going on LinkedIn etiquette.
Maybe the person in question will see this on LinkedIn where it appears in my profile, recognize her invitation and comment.
Do we have to build our networks thoughtfully on LinkedIn? Or, am I being too curmudgeonly about this?
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New PR Words - and Music! 