Chapter 21

Social Networking — Driven by Drivel

IN THIS CHAPTER

Bullet Understanding social networking

Bullet Avoiding the hype

Bullet Reaping the SEO benefits of social networking

Is there a place for social networking in a book on SEO? Well, to some degree, yes. But I don’t go into great detail about social networking, because many of the benefits (when there are benefits) are not related to SEO. Social networking can be used in various ways to market a product or service, or an associated website, but that’s not all about SEO.

Just What Is Social Networking?

Before I go any further, I should answer a basic question: What is social networking?

A social networking service is one that helps people communicate together and share information quickly. Consider for a moment a basic, informational website. Clients come to the site, read about the products or services being promoted by the site, perhaps take some kind of action — make a purchase, sign up for a newsletter, or whatever — and go away. The communication flow is all one-way.

Of course, you could add two-way communication to a website — a chat system that allows customers to chat online with customer-service staff, for instance. But it’s still ...

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