If we look more closely at the question of link building, arguably one of the most important elements of a successful search engine optimisation campaign, it soon becomes apparent that social media and social networking portals offer the eager optimiser immeasurable link building possibilities.

Social media thrives on connection and connectivity, meaning blog posts contain links to other web sites, press releases contain links to the companies and products they are talking about, and book marking sites do just that – they create an enormous virtual library, saving billions of stories by millions of people and directing many more to those articles of interest.

The first important point to bear in mind is that the power of publication resides directly with the company or individual owning the blog, distributing the press release or book marking the site. That means you can add as many links back to the site as you choose. Not only that, it is within your power to choose when and to what page the link appears.

When using social media to build linkbacks, there are two decisions to make.

DECISION 1: Am I going to use these social media sites purely for link baiting purposes?
DECISION 2: Is the quality of the information used for link building on these sites important?

If your answer to question one is Yes, the sole purpose of creating and maintaining a presence in social networking spheres is purely to generate linkbacks, the optimisation of link text will be your most important consideration and determine exactly how much this kind of campaign effects the organic listing position of the web site being optimised.

Each time a blog is updated or a bookmark is set, as the publisher you choose which keywords to wrap the link text around and can deep link these keywords to the most appropriate landing page on your site. This gives you more control over the relevance of these links for search engine optimisation purposes.

Used properly, a blog actually empowers us to create more links for our specific keywords. What’s more, these keywords can be deep linked to the correct page within the site. This technique enables the savvy search engine optimiser using social media to build backlinks naturally by scattering referrals throughout the site rather than concentrating solely on an individual page such as the home page.

Optimising the link text in this way increases the number of links counted by the search engine for that term (thereby increasing positioning) but it also directs the user to their desired landing page, enhancing usability.

From a business perspective, the advantage of using social media to create link backs is the low operational cost. You can place relatively poor quality material on these sites just to create link backs visible to the search engines purchased in bulk from suppliers in developing countries. I advise against this as good search engine optimisation takes the user into account but, if your answer to question one was simply to use communities and blogs to raise search engine placement, social media activity makes sound economic sense. Not only do you not need to pay for any of the links generated as there are ample free social network sites, you can also dispose of the service of expensive copyrighters.

However, it is always advisable for those using social media sites to take a much longer term view. Using poor quality material to generate link backs actually restricts the very ideals that drew us to using social media as an SEO tool in the first place.

As a place to discuss and recommend, strong, well-written material attracts links from other web sites and is picked up by other sources.

Commentary and opinion that provokes, blogs which question and sites which provide information can target a much higher tier of links from well respected sources and importantly, from sites with strong page ranks – sites such as the New York Times, Time magazine, Business Week routinely comment on blogs and wikis –if your presence on social media sites is defined by links for links sake, you impede your own chances of attracting other links and fully utilising the power of social networking.

By using good quality material, it is possible to attract links and exposure from sources like these, that would otherwise be unattainable.

Read More: Social Media Whitepaper - Online PR