Social Bookmarking, Word of Mouth Promotion and SERP
Roy
What do you do before purchasing something big?
What influences your decisions more - advertisement, editorial review or peer review?
Studies and researches in different parts of the world showed that, peer reviews or word of mouth reviews work great when it comes to make a decision. Even if you were a good judge of the product at point, you would often look out for what others are saying about the product. This is common human habit and that is the weak point where marketers try to hit.
The social bookmarking networks usually follow the word of mouth promotional diagram.
What happens in a word of mouth promotional diagram?
Adam recommends you a product that he has used (most powerful situation) > you check that out > you make a decision (yes or no depending on your need).
(Note: word of mouth promotion does not necessarily sell a product - it directs prospective customers to a shop)
Now what happens in a social bookmarking website?
Adam142 bookmarks a page under xyz tag and the platform tells you about it > you check that out > you make a decision to bookmark it or leave it depending on your needs.
Sometimes Adam142 have an established identity as a peer and many people like you start following him to know about what he is bookmarking. Thus, in this situation, whichever page he bookmarks, carries a peer value to you. (At the same time if Adam142 starts bookmarking BS pages - you would simply unsubscribe to his bookmarks, as it would have happened in real life.)
To add to this, in the social bookmarking website the platform itself starts promoting the page depending on the amount of people bookmarking it (often in respect to time). This is an added advantage where the medium or the platform itself starts promoting a product.
Now, how does it relate to SEO or SEM?
For last couple of years, search engines (like Google) are assigning more importance to visitor’s experience while determining a website’s ranking in the SERP. Ask any seasoned webmaster and you will get the answer.
Not this is the spot where social bookmarking networks play a huge role. If people start bookmarking your website that means they like your service or they are bookmarking it to use later.
Thus, this transmits clear signals to Google that you have some worth.
Agree?
Posted on: Friday, August 8, 2008 at 4:22 pm 
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