Ranking organically with tweets largely depends on the keyword usage and what comes first in your tweet. You don’t want to rank for [RT @bill RT @bob RT @geoff] so make sure you add the users you retweet at the end with a blog-like [via @andy @bill #chris]. Also you should add some meaningful tags: #seo is fine for Twitter but something more exact like #twitterseo might be better findable and more accurate.
We feel that getting found in Twitter search is no real advantage. The results are messy and lack focus. Even the so called “popular” results on top are barely relevant. People still use this search in spite of better alternatives though. Scheduling recurring tweets might be a good idea here. Don’t spam though. I think more than 4 tweets a day is too much. Lots of Twitter tools support scheduled tweets – HootSuite for example.
Making tweets spread virally is perhaps the most important discipline of Twitter SEO. The other stuff is very basic. Add popular terms and keywords to your tweet to make people re-tweet. Words like “free”, “tips”, “tools” etc., brands like “Google”, “Yahoo” everybody cares for and something that makes a tweet stand out like “OMG!”, “WTF?” or a number.
Of course the link you tweet or the message must be worth re-tweeting. In case it isn’t nobody will re-tweet it. Tweets about Twitter, technology, social media, business that are helpful for most users will get more popular that tweets about niche topics like SEO. Humor is also key. Even SEO jokes are quite popular.
Entering Google results via realtime search is easy once you’re tweet has become viral but it sometimes also helps to tweet your link from more than one account and more than one time. For instance we at Marcom Media Ltd. tweet from the company account first, then in most cases we will re-tweet the link and post it again or re-tweet as an author from our individual accounts.
As our postings have considerable value the rest is done by other regular users. Don’t forget that many Twitter accounts are mostly useless bots that re-tweet automatically based on keywords: Nobody clicks those links. They may show up in Google though as it doesn’t really filter tweets.
These Twitter SEO best practices are neither SEO secrets nor controversial. Every business serious about Twitter SEO tweets that way. Other people don’t mind but if you’re using Twitter for business reasons should do more than just click and run. Make sure to act accordingly to perform better in search be it Google or Twitter.
