Trending Topics and SEO

Published on 26 Apr 2012 at 11:48 pm.
Filed under Search Engine Optimization,Social Media.

Trending Topics are popular phrases being discussed at that time. The phrase is commonly accredited to Twitter, but used on other social media networks such as Google+. So how can you benefit from a trending topic?

Current trending topics on Twitter at the time of this posting.

SEO Benefits of Trending Topics

Search engines love fresh content so if you are able to predict a trend and have copy written for it than you are going to see your site show up higher on search engines. Sometimes a trend is really easy to predict. Tonight is the first round of the NFL draft. I wrote this blog post during the afternoon and mentally prepared my copy for sharing across social media services:

Draft First Round Pick from The BrandBuilder Company: Trending Topics and SEO

I am sure that news aggregators that scan social media networks for content will picked up this post. I am sure that it will be found by aggregators looking for SEO, and I would not be surprised to see it come up for NFL draft searches. The immediate benefit from this trend will be short-lived, but any backlinks that you can pick up will be helpful for your overall site ranking down the line.

I do not suggest trying to use an unplanned trending topic to boost your rankings or as a means of marketing some type of product. An unplanned trending topic would be like a tsunami devastating a region, the death of a celebrity, or anything of the sort. KFC’s Thailand branch was left the following infamous Facebook update in response to this month’s earthquake.

Let’s hurry home and follow the earthquake news. And don’t forget to order your favorite KFC menu.

That will definitely get your name out there. If you’re a small brand the negative publicity will actually help, but I still do not recommend it. The potential to have things backfire is too high in my mind. Reputation matters and you should remember that before you say anything.

So will you ride the next trend in hopes for a boost? And oh yeah, I am going to predict that the Buffalo Bills pick up Matt Kalil in the NFL draft. 😉

This post was originally published as Trending Topics and SEO for The BrandBuilder Company.