How to Triple Visits from Search
Engines: Media Company Focused
Brent D. Payne
Founder, BaldSEO.com
My Background…
Pre-eCommerce
eCommerce
Tribune
Company
BaldSEO.com
1999
2001
2008
2011
100% Commission
Amazon.com
SEO Manager
Left Tribune
• Begged for Top
eCommerce Accounts
• Amazon.com, Buy.com,
800.com, etc.
• Success!
• All via SEO!
• Quit My 1st Day
• Just Do What You Know
Already
• In 60 Days Surpassed
Tribune Salary
SEO Director
Range of Clients
Other eCommerce
Put Neck on the Line
• #1 Salesperson in a Year
or Get Fired Trying!
Amazon.com
• Got Appointment
• No Significant Success
• Buy.com
• NewEgg.com
• Walmart.com
• In-Charge of Newspapers
and Television
• 70+ Sites in Total
Just SEO, Please!
Consulting
• Left for Tribune
• Wanted SEO Only!
• Tribune Allowed
• Became More Profitable
• 435 Digital
• eCommerce
• Media
• Health
• Consulting Firms
The Future
• TBD 
Tribune’s Traffic from Search
January 2007
Tribune’s Success Story
Comparing January 2007 to January 2010…
21.9%
Tripled Number of Visits
Doubled Percentage of Traffic (22% to 41%)
Tribune’s Traffic from Search Engines
January 2010
Tribune’s Search Engine
Traffic
April 2010
January 2010
October 2009
July 2009
April 2009
January 2009
October 2008
July 2008
April 2008
January 2008
October 2007
July 2007
April 2007
January 2007
40.8%
@BrentDPayne
How Did Tribune Do It?
Upper Management Support
• Complete Autonomy Across the Company Regarding Content
One Company Vision for SEO
• No Longer 70 Different Companies…One Mega Company
Technical Prioritization
• Dedicated Resources for SEO as an On-Going Project
Training, Training & Re-Training
• Trained All Tribune Locations In-Person 3x Reaching Thousands of Journalists
• “I Don’t Care…That’s Not How You Do It on the Web!”
Social Media Focus
• Launch of Colonel Tribune and Several Social Media Profiles
Upper Management Support
Stacks of Site Reviews
• Already Knew WHAT To Do!
I Quit!
• Quit My First Day
• Boss Explained They Needed
HOW vs. WHAT
Key Player Focused
“YOU DON’T NEED ME. I QUIT!” – Brent D Payne
• Focused on Major Decision
Makers
• Trickle Down & Across
Approach
Upper Management Support: More
Than Just Buying Alcohol (But It Helps)
Started with Online Editors
• Focused on the Online Editors
because they had the greatest
influence and highest number of
people in their network.
Then Department Heads
• Next were the department heads
to make sure each section of the
newspapers had SEO focus.
“Find people within the organization to network
with that are well connected with others. Often
times they become your best friends and allies.”
– Brent D. Payne
Lastly Evangelists Arose
• SEO evangelists arose from the
success they experienced and
those were leveraged to peers.
Upper Management
Support: Making
Lemonade Out of
Some BIG Lemons!
United Airlines Situation
• United Airlines Stock Crashes Due to
Series of Events
Tribune vs Google Public War
• Numerous Press Releases from Both
Google and Tribune Blaming the Other
Side
Full Week with Tribune CEO
• Leveraged Opportunity to Build
Relationship
• Educated CEO About SEO Advantages
One Company Vision for SEO
Better Together
• Changed mindset of newspapers and
broadcast sites that Tribune was much
stronger together.
Prioritization of SEO Goals
• Set prioritization of which properties
ranked for which terms
Leveraged Upper Management
• Stopped internal fighting by use of upper
management to set ‘mandates’ on SEO.
“49 million links to JUST top 8 Tribune sites! 4x
more powerful than any single Tribune site!” –
Brent D Payne
Underscored Wins
• Communicated to large, influential
groups of SEO wins
How to Underscore One Company
Vision for SEO: Train Them…
Popularity
Popularity
LOCAL BLOGS
CNN
SMALL
WEBSITES
NYTIMES
PERSONAL
PROFILES
LATIMES
AUTHORITY
Popularity
RELEVANCE
On-Page
Link
Text
OffPage
URL
@BrentDPayne
AUTHORITY
Popularity
@BrentDPayne
50,000,000
40,000,000
30,000,000
20,000,000
10,000,000
cbsnews.com
bbc.co.uk
nytimes.com
cnn.com
go.com (ABC News)
reuters.com
wsj.com
guardian.co.uk
washingtonpost.com
usatoday.com
msnbc.msn.com
huffingtonpost.com
latimes.com
aolnews.com
tmz.com
foxnews.com
dailymail.co.uk
timesonline.co.uk
bloomberg.com
telegraph.co.uk
chicagotribune.com
boston.com
fairfax.com.au
smh.com.au
news.com.au
The Top 25 Most Linked to News Websites in the World
60,000,000
48,708,722
44,142,443
38,175,396
37,144,374
27,211,887
24,177,394
20,197,680
19,116,213
15,919,639 14,990,997
14,030,803
10,612,988
8,952,316
8,364,298
7,747,263
7,133,779
-
@BrentDPayne
Just Tribune’s Newspaper Sites Have More Links (Combined)
Than Any Other Online News Website in the World
60,000,000
49,888,166
50,000,000
40,000,000
30,000,000
20,000,000
10,000,000
-
@BrentDPayne
On-Site Structure: Duplicates
I try really hard to
find duplicate
content. If I do, I
hide the
duplicate.
On-Site Structure: Duplicates
Tribune Co.
didn’t
consolidate
their
PageRank.
Orlando
Sentinel
• 15 Total Inbound Links
• 12 With Good Anchor Text
• 5 From High Authority Sites
Fox 5 San
Diego
• 10 Total Inbound Links
• 4 With Good Anchor Text
• 2 From High Authority Sites
Tribune
Potential
• 25 Total Inbound Links
• 16 With Good Anchor Text
• 7 From High Authority Sites
Note: This is a theoretical and overly simplified example to prove a point more clearly.
On-Site Structure: Duplicates
CNN
Total
Orlando
Sentinel
Tribune
Total
• 20 Total Inbound Links
• 14 With Good Anchor Text
• 6 From High Authority SitesHad Tribune
Company
• 15 Total Inbound Links
combined it’s
• 12 With Good Anchor Text PageRank it
• 5 From High Authority Siteswould’ve beat
CNN.
• 25 Total Inbound Links
• 16 With Good Anchor Text
• 7 From High Authority Sites
Note: This is a theoretical and overly simplified example to prove a point more clearly.
Linking Structure: Unorganized
Article
2
Article
1
Section
C
None of this
content is that
popular. I’m not
going to rank it
well.
Article
3
Links for
‘Topic X’
Section
B
Blog 1
Blog 2
Section
A
Blog 3
@BrentDPayne
. . . and why it’s bad for SEO.
The competitor is
really popular for
‘Topic X’. I’m going to
rank the competitor
really well.
Competitor
Story 1
Story 2
Story 3
Blog 1
Blog 2
Blog 3
@BrentDPayne
Linking Structure: Organized
Blog 1
Blog 2
Blog 3
Section
A
Story 3
Section
B
Story 2
Story 1
Predetermined
landing page
for ‘Topic X’
Section
C
Now this is popular
content. I’m going to
rank it well.
@BrentDPayne
. . . And why it’s good for SEO.
Your site has some
really popular and
relevant content. I’m
going to rank it
better than CNN,
MSNBC, etc.
Your site!
CNN
MSNBC
FOX News
Reuters
NY Times
NPR
@BrentDPayne
On-Site Structure: Canonicals
Tribune Co. uses
HTML code which
tells Google the
version of the
duplicate content
they should show
in search results.
Do
• Use the original slug
• Make new stories/slugs with completely different angles (e.g. local, related)
Don’t
• Make a new slug with the original content
@BrentDPayne
Canonical Tags Exist on Every Page
Canonical Tag
on Every Page
Passes
PageRank to
Original Source
@BrentDPayne
But, Remember, the Pages Need to Be
Very Similar for Canonicals
@BrentDPayne
Multiple Domain SEO Strategy to
Maximize Authority
Courant
Morning Call
Landing Page Landing Page
KTLA Landing for ‘Topic X’ for ‘Topic X’ Sun-Sentinel
Page for
Landing Page
‘Topic X’
for ‘Topic X’
Chicago
Tribune
Landing Page
for ‘Topic X’
L.A. Times
Landing Page
for ‘Topic X’
Orlando
Sentinel
Landing Page
for ‘Topic X’
Predetermined
Tribune
Company
Location
Now this is
authoritative content.
I’m going to rank it
well.
Baltimore Sun
Landing Page
for ‘Topic X’
Authority
Utilize a Taxonomy System
Investing in a taxonomy
system will help you to
rank better for high
volume, top category
search queries.
Authority
One Company Vision for SEO: The
Technical Requirements to Do It!
In-House CMS
• 10+ Years Old
• Not SEO Focused
Rights/Restrictions Needed
• Different Access Levels to Make
Different Changes
• SEO Team Had Highest Access
Upper Management Decisions
“The CMS is the control center for the entire
organization to work TOGETHER versus
independently.” – Brent D Payne
• Made Decisions Regarding Traffic Flow
and Keyphrases Assigned to Specific
Sites
• Enforced Adherence to Guidelines
Make Your CMS the Control Center
for All Content in Your Network
Sister Sites
Core Site
Content
Press
Releases
Blogs
Feeds,
Web
Services
CMS
Social
Networks
All Content Should Have A Specified
‘SEO Phrase’ It is Targeting
Sister Sites
Barack
Obama
Speech
Blogs
Barack
Obama
Speech
Feeds,
Web
ServicesBarack
Obama
Speech
Core Site
Content
Barack
Obama
Speech
CMS
Press
Releases
Barack
Obama
Speech
Social
BarackNetworks
Obama
Speech
Top 12 Fields Your CMS Should Control on
EVERY Page of Your Site, Individually
Title Tag
SEO Keyphrase
Focus
Bread Crumbs
H1 Tag
H2 Tag
Body Text
Navigational &
Footer Links
Canonical Tag
301 Redirect
Meta
Nofollow/Noindex
Rel=“NoFollow”
(Inbound+OnPage)
Robot Specific
Allow/Disallow
Communicate Some Changes to the
Search Engines
If Content
Updates
XML Sitemap
Search Engine
Title Tag
SEO Keyphrase
Focus
Bread Crumbs
H1 Tag
H2 Tag
Body Text
Navigational &
Footer Links
Canonical Tag
301 Redirect
Meta
Nofollow/Noindex
Rel=“NoFollow”
(Inbound+OnPage)
Robot Specific
Allow/Disallow
Site Wide System Controls
SEO Keyphrase
Destination
Bread Crumbs
Navigational &
Footer Links
Canonical Tags
301 Redirects
Meta
Nofollow/Noindex
Rel=“NoFollow”
(Inbound)
Robot Specific
Allow/Disallow
Technical Prioritization: How to Get
The Technical Work Completed
Project Management
• Dedicated Project Manager
• Daily 15 Minute Meetings
• Weekly 60 Minute Meetings
• Multiple Iterations
Flexible SEO Prioritization
• Not EVERYTHING Must Be
Completed
• Move the Big Levers First
• Balance Work Needed and Benefit
“Reward the technology team and discover
what their highest priorities are both inside and
outside the office—leverage it.” – Brent D Payne
Not a Perfect World
• Can’t Always Complete What’s Best
• Work on Plan B & Plan C Options
Tribune CMS Examples
Tribune CMS Examples
Taxonomy Word List
• Editable List of Associated Keyphrases to the Content
SEO Level/Always NoFollow
• Checkbox to Always NoFollow Any Links to the Content
Notes Section for More SEO Options
• Controls Meta Nofollow, Meta Noindex, and 301
Redirects
Tribune CMS Examples
NOTE: The SEO Keyphrase Should Be Human
Assigned Not Computer Generated
On-the-Fly SEO Research
Use the SEO Keyphrase for Research
• Use the SEO Keyphrase Field
• Make API Calls to Keyword Research Tools
• Offer Various Options
• Make Calls to Link Strength Tools
• Including Your Site and Competitor’s
• Provide Details Regarding Competitiveness
• Check On-Site Frequency of SEO Keyphrase in Anchor
Text
• Display Other Pages On-Site that Have Specified the
Same Keyphrase
On-the-Fly SEO Scoring
Score Your SEO by Utilizing the Keyphrase
• Does the SEO Keyphrase Appear in the . . .
• Title Tag
• H1 Tag
• URL
• First Paragraph of Text
• What is the keyword density of the SEO Keyphrase
• On the entire page
• On just the body text portion of the page
• Appearance of the SEO Keyphrase in image ALT Text
• Provide an Overall Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light
Taxonomy System: Individual and
Global Body Text Links Control
The Tribune CMS can change
the destination page of all
occurrences network wide of
specific anchor text in the
content.
For example, ‘Barack Obama’
links can be directed to any
URL!
301 Redirect/Canonical Tag Tool
Step
1
Step
3
Step
2
Training, Training
& Re-Training!
Just Because It’s Right for . . .
• …print, doesn’t mean it’s right for web!
• …television broadcast, doesn’t mean it’s
right for web!
Speak Their Jargon
• Web layout is different than print
• People search what they see on TV to
find it online also.
Use Historical Examples
• Take just the headlines of stories and
show them in web context.
• Underscore continually the need to think
for web
Key Factors of SEO
Popularity
Popularity
LOCAL BLOGS
CNN
SMALL
WEBSITES
NYTIMES
PERSONAL
PROFILES
LATIMES
AUTHORITY
Popularity
RELEVANCE
On-Page
Link
Text
OffPage
URL
@BrentDPayne
Be
Relevant!
• Discover what the world is talking about
• Discover how the world is talking about
• Discover when the world is talking about it
• Discover where in the world they are talking
about it
• Discover why the world is talking about it
• Discover who to engage with when talking
about it
• TALK ABOUT IT TOO!
@BrentDPayne
SEO: Where Do I Start?
Weather
Local
News
Fashion
What are
people
searching for?
How can I find
out?
Sports
Movies
Politics
Food
Horoscopes
Travel
@BrentDPayne
Related Terms & Estimated
Volume (Month Lag)
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Related Terms & Estimated
Volume (Month Lag)
The Google Keyword Research Tool also allows you to find related terms . . .
. . . Or exemplify just how stupid searchers really are! 
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
People Don’t Search the Internet . . .
Yes! Just posted my
great story about
the oily pelicans in
the gulf to the
Internet!
?
@BrentDPayne
…They Search Google’s Copy of the
Internet
I wonder if Google
has seen a copy of
my great story yet
and added it to its
search results…
Minutes later . . .
What an
awesome story
about the oily
pelicans in the
Gulf of Mexico!!
@BrentDPayne
Google Hot Trends:
Introduction
List of Top Search Terms
• Shows highest volume search terms by percentage of increase
• Updated every hour on the hour
Powerful for . . .
• Breaking news
• Historical top terms by date
• General Education on Searcher Behavior
http://www.google.com/trends
@BrentDPayne
Google Hot Trends: An Indication
of Hourly Search Trends
Hotness Factor
• Volcanic – Extreme volume, usually high competition
• On Fire – High volume, considerably less competition
• Spicy – Strong volume, not worth chasing unless it’s a
hyperlocal term or you’re a small site though
• Medium – Medium volume, not worth chasing after
Other Things to Consider
• Graph – Watch it and catch terms while they’re still peaking
• Related Searches – Use them in your content to
differentiate in high competition times
@BrentDPayne
Google Trends: Why?
Cheap to Implement
Page Views from G' Trends Efforts
Only
• 3 interns @ 30% time ea = Total cost
of $2,000 / month
1,400,000
Lots of Traffic
1,200,000
• Tribune averages 800,000 page views
per month
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
Instant Gratification
400,000
• Same day results (often same hour)
200,000
Link Building Gold Mine
0
Month 2
Month 3
Month 4
Month 5
Residual Traffic
Month 6
• Big wins here = Big pay off in natural
inlinks
@BrentDPayne
Google Trends Tricks:
Michael Jackson’s Death
http://www.google.com/trends
@BrentDPayne
301 Redirect Tool for Mass Redirects
Step
2
Step
1
There is also a more advanced tool
for doing multiple 301-redirects!
Step
3
@BrentDPayne
Don’t Assume. Research.
Think Creatively.
Relevance
@BrentDPayne
The Breaking News Plan
Pick a G’Trends
Term
Site: Search for
Internal Content
Locate/Create
Content
Notify Partners
of the
Destination URL
Notify Partners
of 301 Redirects
301 Related
Outdated
Content
Create Page Links
for Related
Content
Optimize Meta
Data of
Destination URL
Put in SEO
Priority Modules
Meta NoFollow
the Destination
Page
Ensure the URL
Made It Into
G’News
301 Related
Topic Pages to
Destination
This site
always seems
to have the
trendiest
content.
Total Allocated Time: 15 - 20 min.
@BrentDPayne
Repurposing Old URLs for New Stories
Find a Term You
Rank Top 3 On
Make Sure the
Phrase Has
‘Legs’
Keep Same
Active URL
Determine
Appropriate
Metas for CTR
Put a Link to the
Landing Page On
Homepage
Change the Title
and Description
tag
Meta NoFollow
Entire Page
Optimize Meta
Data & Content
Wait Until Day
of Similar Event
Keep Title, H1,
H2, Description
the SAME!
Replace Body
Content with
Updated Story
Inlink from
Similar Content,
301 Old Content
This site
continues to
have the
highest
PageRank for
this term. Easy!
Total Allocated Time: 30 - 45min.
@BrentDPayne
Google Trends: Compare
Search Volume by Terms
Compare multiple terms to determine which term receives the highest volume of search
traffic.
Use the drop down menus to change the date range and regional data sets.
http://www.google.com/trends
Geo-Specific Keyword Research?
Use ‘Google Insights for Search’
Discover the top volume search terms by
category and geography
Discover fastest rising search terms by category
and geography
@BrentDPayne
Geo-Specific Keyword Research?
Use ‘Google Insights for Search’
Discover the top volume search terms by
category and geography
Discover fastest rising search terms by category
and geography
@BrentDPayne
Geo-Specific Keyword Research?
Use ‘Google Insights for Search’
Discover the top volume search terms by
category and geography
Discover fastest rising search terms by category
and geography
That’s right!
JELLO shots,
baby!!
@BrentDPayne
SEO: Where to Put These Keywords
Now that we know what people
are searching for…where do we
put those keywords for
maximum benefit?
@BrentDPayne
Keyword Usage: HTML Title Tag
This is where it appears
in Google.
This is where it appears
in Google.
HTML Title
• Use keyword, followed by colon, followed by
a typical headline
• Insert keyphrase twice if possible
• Speak to a national audience
• Don’t look too spammy but draw attention
• MOST POWERFUL FIELD FOR SEO
RELEVANCE!
@BrentDPayne
Create Highly Relevant Header Tags
REQUIRED
RECOMMENDED
DO NOT…
• Include targeted keyphrase
• Only use one H1 tag per page
• Use actual text versus an image
•
•
•
•
Exact match keyphrase
Place keyphrase in front
Differentiate from HTML Title
Be succinct
• Use for CSS style or other design elements
@BrentDPayne
The Seven Headlines of CNN
Main Story Headline
Most Popular Headline
Homepage Headline
U.S News Headline
World News Headline
CNN Politics Headline
CNN Specials Headline
Relevance
@BrentDPayne
Get Your URLs Right!
REQUIRED
• Use targeted keyphrase
• Separate words with hyphens
RECOMMENDED
• Avoid Jargon
• Michelle Obama vs. FLOTUS
• Health Care Reform vs. HCR
DO NOT…
• Abbreviate or omit vowels,
etc.
@BrentDPayne
Keyword Usage: First Paragraph
REQUIRED
RECOMMENDED
DO NOT…
• Include targeted keyphrase in the paragraph
• Use targeted keyphrase more than once
• Use plural or singular version of keywords
• Use synonyms of keywords
• Use ‘similar searches’ keywords
• Use content from sites that have stronger
positioning in search engines for same content
• Create too short of content
• Keyword stuff
@BrentDPayne
SEO Tip: Repurpose Old
Content
Hey, you still have
that great
‘Michelle Obama
dress’ content?
Tons of people are
looking for it again.
Umm. I have
what your
searchers
want, yeah.
@BrentDPayne
Google News: It’s About
the One-Box
Google News One-Box
• Appears on first page of Google Web for breaking news content
• Is piped into several other Google products
Google News Homepage
• Decent traffic (though not like Yahoo! Homepage)
• Increases crawl and indexing in alternative search engines
@BrentDPayne
Google News: Inclusion Submission
Google News Inclusion Submission Form
• Google News is by submission only. Furthermore, the site must be approved by Google to be in
Google News.
Submission Form URL
• http://www.google.com/support/news_pub/bin/request.py?contact_type=suggest_content
@BrentDPayne
Google News is a Different
Animal
URL
Differences
Traffic Trends
Less
Understood
Robots
Activity
• Usually only looks once…takes longer time to revisit than traffic trend
• Prefers Fresh URLs (i.e. new URLs)
• MUST Have at Least a 3-digit Number in the URL or XML Sitemap
• Greater Peaks & Valleys
• Easier to Win But Evaporates Quickly
• Google News ‘One-Box’ in Google Web is Unpredictable
• More a Script Than a Spider
• Change to Site Requires Notification to Google News
• Google News Homepage = Uncertainties
• Much More Reliant on Sitemaps (Specifically News Sitemaps)
• Separate Robots.txt Protocol of ‘Googlebot-News’
• Control Crawl to Just News Content
@BrentDPayne
How to Conduct a
Google News
Checkup!
@BrentDPayne
Step One: Do a Google News Search
Navigate
• Make Sure You Go To Google News
• http://news.google.com
Use the ‘Site’ Query Parameter
• Enter ‘site:’ (no quotes) Into the Google News Search
Box
• Immediately following, enter your domain name (no
space after the colon)
Sort Results
Here!
Sort the Results
• Click on the Lower(ish) Left Hand Side to Sort by Date
@BrentDPayne
Step Two: See If You’re Included
Included!
Not Included!
@BrentDPayne
Step Three: Submit Your Site If You’re
Not Included
Your Correct
Publication
Name
Navigate
• Go to the Google News Submission Form
• http://www.google.com/support/news_pub/bin/request.py?contact_type=suggest_content
Fill Out the Form Correctly
• Make Sure You Use the Publisher Name Specified In Your Google News Sitemap (MUST MATCH!!)
• Insert your email address correctly
• Make sure you submit your Google News sitemap, not your regular sitemap
@BrentDPayne
Step Four: Is It Being Included Quickly?
Check It
• Does Google News Seem to Be Including Your Content Quickly?
• Remember to Sort Results By Date Versus Relevancy
• Does G’News Seem to Be Including All The Appropriate Content?
Fix It
• Make sure your Google News Sitemap is working, and that it lists all of your content.
• Get more links to your content from Sites/Pages that have many links going to them.
Step Five: Check Content from Interior
Pages (Blogs, Subdomains)
Examples:
site:blogs.chicagotribune.com
site:latimesblogs.latimes.com
site:chicagonow.com/blogs/gowherehip-hop
site:latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow
Using Social Media to Help SEO
I’ve Heard the Excuses
• But I Don’t Like . . .
• But That’s Not My Job . . .
• I Shouldn’t Self-Promote . . .
I Don’t Know How to . . .
• Tweet
• Facebook
• Blog
“Remove the barriers that your organization
creates which impedes social media success
through proper training, technology and trust.”
– Brent D. Payne
I Don’t Have Time to . . .
• I Am Too Busy
• I Have Too Many Other
Priorities
Key Factors of SEO
Popularity
Popularity
LOCAL BLOGS
CNN
SMALL
WEBSITES
NYTIMES
PERSONAL
PROFILES
LATIMES
AUTHORITY
Popularity
RELEVANCE
On-Page
Link
Text
OffPage
URL
@BrentDPayne
Popularity
Popularity
LOCAL BLOGS
CNN
SMALL
WEBSITES
NYTIMES
PERSONAL
PROFILES
LATIMES
@BrentDPayne
300+ Choices. Pick One. Get Social.
Which Sites Will You Use?
@BrentDPayne
Make It Easy to Be Social!
@BrentDPayne
Formula: The Social Media Title
The Viral Content Formula:
• [Number] [Adjective/Superlative] [Key Phrase] [Media
Type]
Examples:
• 10 Movies that teach you how to commit crimes.
• 10 iPhone finance apps that count.
• 16 Drinks named for authors and their books.
• 25 Reasons it’s great to be an IT guy (or girl).
• Morgan Freeman’s 5 most memorable movie moments.
@BrentDPayne
Social Media Balance
DOES
NOFOLLOW
MATTER?
@BrentDPayne
Key Factors of SocialRank
Popularity
Popularity
REPLIES
SHARES
INTERACTIONS
CTR in SERPS
FOLLOWERS
LINKS
AUTHORITY
WEBSITES
Popularity
LINKS & NEWS
MENTIONS
FOLLOWER
INTERACTIONS
INTERACTION
TYPES
SIZE OF
FOLLOWERS
RELEVANCE
HISTORY
LINK
RELEVANCY
DENSITY
TOPICAL
INTERACTION
@BrentDPayne
And Remember the Secondary
Benefits
Scrapers
Blog/Site Modules
Social Signals
Increased Awareness
@BrentDPayne
Example of How Twitter Can Build
Links
Brent’s
A God!
147 Retweets
Follower Reach 1,841,336
3,502 Visits in 24hrs
512 inbound links in 24hrs!
@BrentDPayne
Twitter Account Types: News Feed
Create a News Feed from RSS
• Use your most frequently updated quality content
• Do NOT ‘at reply’ users from this account
• Do NOT follow people back from this account; follow your own accounts
@BrentDPayne
Twitter Account Types: Employees
Allow Employees to Tweet
• Set some ground rules about proprietary information
• Underscore that company grievances should be addressed with Human
Resources
• Provide information to employee about libel/slander and the consequences
• Allow them to promote the company and the competitor
• Allow them to be genuine and personable
• Give them freedom to be themselves in all aspects of their lives
• Understand and accept that mistakes and issues will occur
• Do NOT officially endorse them
@BrentDPayne
Twitter Account Types: Celebrities
Force Celebrities to Create Accounts
• Make it a job requirement to have a Twitter profile
• Give them freedom to be human (i.e. complain about their commute)
• Get them to interact with their followers (follow them back, at reply, DM, etc.)
@BrentDPayne
Twitter Account Types: Brand Persona
Create a Brand Persona
• Create a character that your audience
can connect with personally
• Spend time to create a decent avatar
• Mimic your brand perception or mimic
the target audience demographic
• Create a detailed personality, writing
style, interests, etc. for the persona
• Be sure to have the persona engage
with the audience via ‘at replies’, ‘direct
messages’, and even send event invites
• Keep who’s behind the ‘veil of Oz’
private, always
• Do NOT allow those behind the veil to
inject personal opinions inconsistent
with the brand persona
• Make it your brand’s social media face
@BrentDPayne
Get Big Fast: Promote Your Profiles
Make Your Audience Aware
• Use your readership of print media to promote your twitter profile
• Use your viewership of television to promote your twitter profile
• Promote your twitter profile to your listeners via radio
• Don’t forget the easiest of them all… your website visitors!
@BrentDPayne
Get Seen: Use Twitter Directories
Use Twitter Directories
• List yourself in the top Twitter
directories
• WeFollow, Twellow, Muck Rack, etc.
@BrentDPayne
Engage the Locals: Have a Tweetup
Tweetup = Local Engagement
• Invite top referrers or bloggers specifically
• Pick a decent venue that can handle 2x
expected turn out
• Utilize event sites like EventBrite or
Meetup.com
• Have one or two celebrities attend to
create a draw
• Clarify dress code, theme, location, food
or no food, etc.
• Promote the Tweetup from all profiles
POUH YOUR COMPETITOR
• Have large nametags available and plenty
of pens
• Take lots of pictures and post them
publicly
• Remember to MINGLE!
• Do NOT buy the alcohol!
@BrentDPayne
Take Off The Gloves: Poach
Poach Your Competitor’s Followers!
• Follow those that follow your competitor…and engage with them
POACH YOUR COMPETITOR
@BrentDPayne
Get A Little Dirty: Cheat/Automate
Twitter Automation
• Auto-follow all followers of a particular
user
• Auto-follow all those that a particular
user follows
• Auto-follow those that follow you
• Auto-follow those that tweet a
particular keyword
• Auto-follow by geography
• Auto-unfollow anyone that isn’t
following you
• Only follow those that have x number of
followers but under y number
• Only follow those that have tweeted at
least x number of times
• Only follow those that have a nondefault profile image
• Setup a tweet for a later date and time
• MUCH, MUCH, MORE!!
@BrentDPayne
Keywords
• Search for titles, topics,
company names, etc.
Search Twitter Profile
Data to Find Followers
Location
• Enter a city or GPS coordinate
# of …
• Set minimum & maximum to
help minimize spam
@BrentDPayne
Choose a Twitter User
• Choose influential profiles
• Profiles with more followers will provide
quicker results
Follow All Followers of a
Specific User
Be Mindful of . . .
• Following Matt Cutts’ mother!
• Following second and third profiles of users
Time Your Approach Appropriately
• Don’t target the same profile too often
• Profiles that email notifications of new
follows may notice your tactics if it’s not
spaced out
YUMMY!!
@BrentDPayne
Choose a Twitter User
• Choose influential profiles
• Choose profiles that follow a considerably
LOWER number of people than follow them
Follow Everyone A Specific
User Is Following
Be Mindful of . . .
• Following Matt Cutts’ mother! 
• Following Twitterbots created by the user
Advantages of This Tactic…
• If you follow the people the influencers are
following you have HIGHER QUALITY
• You can get to know the person that knows
THE person
IMPORTANT
PEOPLE?!
@BrentDPayne
Choose a Twitter User
• Choose influential people that have
created longer lists
Follow a Curated List
Created by an Influencer
Be Mindful of…
• Following Matt Cutts’ mother! 
• Off topic interests of the user that
may not be helpful for you to follow
Advantages of This Tactic…
• Have a high editorial value from the
influencer
• Saves time researching ‘best of’
Categorized
List of VIPs!
@BrentDPayne
Choose a Proper Phrase
• Choose a phrase that allows you to interact
or share commonality
Follow Everyone That
Tweets a Specific Phrase
Be Mindful of…
• Avoiding “Matt Cutts is a good boy” as it
would result in . . . Following Matt Cutts’
mother! 
• Being too general or too specific
• Other meanings of phrases and languages
Advantages of This Tactic…
• Following brand name mentions delayed
long enough to not appear as a bot
• Finding common interests with other
Twitter users
A Very
Important
Group of
People! 
“I am bald”
@BrentDPayne
Find the Proper RSS Feed
• Find an RSS Feed that will be reliably
interesting and accurate for you to share
without curating
Automatically Tweet Info
from an RSS Feed
Be Mindful of…
• Automatically sharing brand term related RSS
feeds…may be BAD NEWS you’re sharing!
• Freshness of the information you’re sharing
with your followers
Advantages of This Tactic…
• Perception by followers that you are
completely on top of your topic area
• Less effort to share other’s content on the web
• Reciprocal tweet exchanges with other
influencers (it’s not banned by Google…yet!)
Instantly
Share
Information
Curated by
an RSS Feed!
@BrentDPayne
Lots of Other Options
• Long list of other options available
within TweetAdder 3.0
• Location Search
• Black/White Listing
• Auto Unfollow
• Auto Re-Tweets
• Auto Thank You
• Auto Direct Messages
• …Much More!!
TweetAdder 3.0 Has A Ton
of Other Options!
Be Mindful of…
• Limitations imposed by Twitter
• Use it only for augmentation not the
majority of your activities
Advantages of TweetAdder 3.0
• Allows you to be much more strategic in
your Twitter strategy
• Saves significant time and resources
with your Twitter campaign
• Not using the Twitter APIs so less
restrictions on the automations
Churn baby,
churn!!
@BrentDPayne
Contact Us for More Details
SEO & Social Media Consulting Firm
Founder/CEO
Brent D. Payne – SEO & Social Media
Twitter: @BrentDPayne
Facebook: facebook.com/BrentDPayne
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 312.324.3344
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @BaldSEO
BaldSEO.com