Why You Should Optimize Your Twitter Account
Google and Twitter have recently made an agreement, allowing Google to access Twitter’s data and in turn helping Twitter gain greater online visibility with non-Twitter users. Now, more and more tweets are being indexed by Google, more apparently in mobile searches. With its increased visibility and reachability, Twitter has become something very useful for small businesses that are looking for cost-free ways to reach their target audience.
If you are a business entrepreneur who would like to have a crash course in SEO, look no further. Here are some basic SEO tips for businesses on how to optimize Twitter and become visible to your target market online:
Optimize Your Username
Your business’ Twitter username is just like a title of your website page. If your brand name is available, use it. Keep it as simple as possible. This is important for your branding. You want people to recognize your business by your Twitter handle and easily find you by searching using your brand.
Complete Your Twitter Bio
Twitter bios are often used as meta description in Google’s search engine results. Take advantage of the 160 character limit you have for your Twitter bio and describe your business using target keywords. As always, make sure to avoid overstuffing this with keywords. You may also use hashtags in your bio or add links. Having an optimized bio can increase your visibility within the Twitter search for users who are interested in your niche as well as your visibility on search engines.
Link to Your Twitter Account
Having links that lead to your Twitter account builds up its page authority and increases its chances of ranking on Google. Make sure your website and other social media profiles link to your Twitter profile and vice versa.
Add Your Business Location
Especially for local businesses, adding the physical location of your establishment on your Twitter account helps improve your online visibility for local searches made by potential customers nearby.
Get More Followers
Having more Twitter followers is the best way to achieve social media influence and authority. When you have more followers on Twitter, you also have better chances of getting your posts retweeted or favorited. To gain followers, make sure you only tweet interesting, relevant, and valuable information that your target audience would appreciate and want to share with their family and friends.
Optimize Your Tweets
Posting optimized tweets can increase your retweets which increases your authority. Take advantage of the 140 character limit on Twitter. When your tweet gets indexed, this will be shown as the meta description in SERPs. This is just one of several types of social signals you should have. It is also best to keep your posts below the set character limit so that your followers can easily retweet your post by adding “RT @username” without going beyond the character limit. Use a URL shortener when linking out to a page so that the URL takes up less characters and you are able to write a catchy headline. Add an image on your posts so it gets noticed among the other posts in the Twitter feed. Use hashtags to increase exposure to your tweets and make it easier for your target audience to search for them.
Tweet Several Times a Day
Post unique tweets several times a day. You can share the same link or content more than once, just make sure the headline is different for every post.
Follow Other Experts and Authorities in Your Niche
Keep up with the other authorities in your industry by following other experts within your niche. Retweet other experts to expand your posts and account, while at the same time developing a good relationship with others in your field. Doing this also increases the chances of these experts and authorities following you back or retweeting your posts to their audience.
By practicing these simple techniques, you will be able to efficiently use your business’ Twitter account to improve your SEO ranking and reach out to a greater chunk of your target market. If you can devote a little portion of your busy schedule to enroll in an online SEO training course, this can give you greater insights on how to optimize not just your Twitter account but your overall online presence.
Bio
Michelle Rubio has been working with SMEs across the United States, Canada, Australia and the UK for the last five years. She is a highly-experienced blogger and SEO copywriter. You can see more of her works and experiences in her LinkedIn profile.
