Using Twitter in SEO

Twitter seems to be the tool that has a million and one uses. Just when I think I've got a handle on its potential, something new leaps up and makes itself known. Yesterday I discovered a whole new use for Twitter.

It's a great tool for SEO. In particular, as a way to test keyword phrases in real time and determine whether they're hot (or not).

It takes a few seconds to post a 'tweet' on Twitter (follow my tweets). And just a few seconds more to know whether or not anybody was interested in the post.

You can tell people are searching on the keyword phrase you're testing if you pick up followers. The instant nature of Twitter, combined with the way it's search engine works, makes it an ideal indicator of the usefulness of any given keyword right now (as opposed to last month's data in most of the keyword analysis tools).

In any industry subject to quickly changing trends, this instant response is an enormous benefit. It can tell you if the slang you're using is out of fashion. If the keyword you're contemplating for AdWords is still highly popular. Or whether or not anybody cares about a new offer you plan to make next month. Let's face it, it pays to grab every advantage you can in lead generation.

Of course, this will work best if you keep your post short. And take care to eliminate words and phrases people might search on. To get a proper gage of the usefulness of the thing you're testing, you must make sure the 'tweet' is highly focussed on that thing.

For example, let's say I want to test the term Print Shop to see whether it's still in use. I set up a web page that contains a number of ways to slash the cost of professional offset printing. I then post this tweet: Save money - 50% off your print shop costs! Here's how: http://some-web-page-url

The example tweet is likely to pick up people in the market for a printing company, but may also be found by people looking for a savings account (i.e. to save money). This has the potential to muddy the results. It would be more useful to post this alternative: Cut your print shop costs in half! Here's how: http://some-web-page-url