Social Web 2.0 Services
The Social Web 2.0
The social web 2.0 has been around since the early 21st century, although it has risen in popularity over the last 5 years or so. So much so, some would question how we ever lived without it. We use it every day to connect with friends and family, store bookmarks, share pictures and videos, chat with other users, hook up with other people who share common interests, and for just about anything you can do in everyday life. The social web has firmly integrated itself into our lives as we know it, and it appears to only be gaining momentum every day. The social web has forever changed how we live our lives and some people who cannot live a life outside of the computer actually live a life inside the computer. The social web is responsible for spawning dating and matchmaking sites, online reality worlds like The Sims and Second Life, and even adult related sites that promise anything you can imagine. These sites have found a way to co-exist and make money through micro transactions and memberships, and just like the other social media sites; show no sign of slowing down anytime soon.
If there is one constant in all of this it would be that the plethora of social web 2.0 sites that are poping up everyday seem to be spawning at an increased rate. At this point the only concern anyone can have about these sites is IF this is some kind of bubble like the dot com era of the internet of the late 1990's.
The Search Engines Embrace
While these sites have been moving at an ever increasing rate, search engines have hoped on board of the social web 2.0 train. If you look at the SERP pr Page Rank of sites like Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube; you will find that Google has rewarded these sites due to the immense amount of original content these sites spawn every minute! By doing so, they have validated Social Web 2.0 websites in today’s world and recognize them of the highest quality. 1 link on You Tube or Facebook can often be the equivalent of hundreds of links on other blogs and forums. The search engines appear to actually be pushing social media on the masses.
The Everyday User Versus The Link Builder
Many people who are on these sites have no desire to run websites or concern themselves with Page Rank or SERPs, it just means nothing to people who only use these sites for communication or to share pictures or video. On the other side of the fence you have you have link building service companies and webmasters who has instantly found a gold mine of high Page Rank and SERP backlink sources. The Social Web 2.0 has plenty of room to support both types of users. With the ever increasing world of exploitation among link builders and webmasters, the everyday user is growing tired of seeing link building service companies exploit these sites for gains. It is ever so important that we, as link builders and webmasters, approach these areas with extreme caution. These sites are cracking down and some have even done everything they can to completely stop the exploitation of their sites and keep link building companies and webmasters from using their sites to help promote products and websites.
Social Web 2.0 and Panda
Social Web 2.0 sites have VERY high traffic; some get more traffic in 1 minute than other sites will see their entire existence. Social Web 2.0 sites also spawn massive amounts of unique content. With the ability to send and receive Social Web 2.0 content from phones, tablets and laptops; there is so much unique content that some search engines have spiders completely dedicated to doing nothing other than crawling these sites.
Panda is Google's latest update on their algorithm which determines search engine ranking. Matt Cutts has actually gone on record and told the world that Panda notices over spammed sites and duplicated content and will penalize those sites. He has also stated that unique content is what they are looking for and trying to reward with their new updates. These reasons alone make the Social Web 2.0 sites a highly marketable and bar none some of the most recognized sites on the internet as we know it.
How Can Social Web 2.0 Help Me?
Well to begin with Facebook seems to be one of the web's most highly seen websites. With the sheer number of users that are logging into Facebook these days, anything passing through Facebook can potentially be seen by millions of people. One person likes your page, all their friends see it, one of those people like your page, all their friends see it, and this keeps going on and on. To the point where you site or link to your site is being liked by thousands or millions of people all over the world. You can create a Facebook Fan Page or Company page, which again you can do the same with. The numbers of views can exponentially grow over time and the backlink juice you will get from a high Page Rank Social Web 2.0 is priceless. Facebook does only allow 5,000 friends per account, but the way you link can travel, there may not be a need to have more.
How about Twitter? I have seen people with millions of followers. How nice would it be to run your link through a couple of those accounts? Now you are limited in the number of actual characters you can send per Tweet, but a link and a short crafty catch phrase shouldn't be too hard to assemble for that kind of exposure, right?
You Tube is another high Page Ranked site with ton of exposure. The traffic was becoming so astounding on You Tube, Google just had to buy it! Now it is a money making marketing machine for many. We know people who do nothing but post videos and rake in the cash while they lay in their pools. Sound fun?
How about Linked in, and the massive changes they are going through. These days we have found that many employers are actually using Linked in to find potential candidates for job openings. Why spend money placing ads in newspapers and online job finders, when you can just search for exactly what you are looking for, and do it for free!
There are many other social bookmarking type sites that can help in getting your site recognized and adding SERP authority to your link juice. Look at sites like Digg, Diigo, Redit, and Delicious; all these sites do is store your bookmarks and show news stories and events. These sites are not only give your site real nice link juice, but they also can assist in getting your website indexed by Google very quickly.
Google +1
There are rumors and speculation revolving around the newest feature Google has rolled out. The new +1 feature give people the ability to recommend your website by placing a +1 vote on it. Many link building services and webmasters actually believe this is going to be a part of Google's ranking system in the future, if it is not already in place. Google has been very secretive in their ways and algorithms, so it is hard to actually tell for certain, one thing is for sure; when the largest search engine (Google) rolls out a way for humans to assist in ranking websites, it may not be a bad idea to hop on board sooner than later.
Synopsis
As you can see, there are many different aspects of Social Web 2.0 sites that can be used to assist in your link building campaigns. We highly recommend the organic and diverse approach to link building services and campaigns. So the use of Social Web 2.0 in your link building is only going to help your site succeed and drive even more traffic. Every site is different, and some sites may find better results in different Social Web 2.0 sites. We highly recommend the use and testing of each of these to find out which will bring the most benefit to your site(s) and business. To ignore these sites maybe committing social suicide.
