Identifying the cold hard truth in this information-obsessed world can be challenging. Because Google and other search engine algorithms are so complex many of us have to rely on information dispersed among various websites to determine how best to optimize, organize and originate content for SEO. In order to make your life a little easier, we’ve asked our SEO Experts here at Horton Group, for some advice when it comes to optimizing your Twitter account. Here we offer great tips to maximize your Twitter optimization and identify a commonly told myth.

Sharing Links: Use Bit.ly – Easily tracked and counts toward page hits on your site
When you share a link on your tweet you have a few options to use in terms of link-shorteners. Imagine you were navigating the hectic downtown streets during rush hour in your big van wrapped in ads for your company. Instead of avoiding traffic, you want to drive in to it. Using Bit.Ly links is a great way to drive your web page into traffic even though you wont get a page-rank advantage. Bit.ly is also helpful because you can track the data analytically for more information.

Ensure your tweets are 120 char. or less — Easier to re-tweet
This might sound like common sense, but it can’t hurt to reiterate. If you use every single character Twitter allows, your fellow birdies can’t re-tweet your savvy comments without the time and effort it takes to shorten and re-organize the tweet.

Stay keyword strong – Use Google Adwords and get creative
Havent explored with Google Adwords yet? Its time to get started! Find out whats being googled most often and be sure to throw important key words into your tweet. Of course, irrelevant keywords are not quite as useful as the relevant ones but may still bring in new traffic.

The beginning of your tweet is more SEO friendly
With only 140 (or 120 if you pay attention to this article) characters you have to convey your message, we can assume it will be concise and void of excessive fluff. However, try to wrangle the meatier (or most keyword rich) part of the tweet to the beginning. Like a typical reader, Google will read the beginning before losing focus…

Bio is important — Think of it as a Meta-Title/Description
Ensure that the information you list under your bio section is also, keyword rich and valuable to identifying the purpose of your account. The more specific and direct you can be the better. Click here for more information on meta-titles and descriptions.

Handle and account name are important
Choose your handle wisely. Creativity is important but not to Google. They value keywords and links so if your twitter handle is searchable, all the better.

Static links are Nofollow
Want to post your web page link onto your twitter info page? Great, go for it – but don’t expect it to help your page rank. Because Google recognizes the larger online communities they also insert nofollow links which do perform the function of transferring the clicker to the desired web page, but do not consider it a link when determining page rank. So be wary of the nofollow links.

Follow similar Twitter-ers
Jump online and start looking for other people who are interested in the same things you are (or your business). This is a great way to network, form online connections and break into a new, already cultivated, fan base. How does this help in terms of SEO? Lets not forget, the point is to get people to your web page.

SEO your Twitter Picture?
Ive heard this before so I was surprised when I asked our SEO expert at Horton Group, and he said hes not so sure. Because Google ran into some complicated situations with people naming photos of one thing, by a completely different name, it was clear they should re-evaluate their photo crawling. Since Google can’t read photos, they decided not to read what their titled. In other words, it can’t hurt, but it wont help either. This means that your Twitter background, if you chose to upload a custom twitter background image, also won’t be beneficial for your optimization.

Want more great advice on how to optimize your social media platforms? Contact Horton Group now! Do you have any suggestions for this article? Please leave a comment and start the conversation!