I had a discussion this afternoon that made me think about how much I use basic SEO practices in our social media promotion campaigns. Social media has changed the face of internet marketing. At the same time, SEO techniques still must be employed to give your site a proper foundation. One of the questions that may arise is how can SEO techniques be adaptable to this new marketing phenomena? SEO will have to change as social media develops.

One of the things that will happen is that linking strategies will become more social in nature. The benefits of buying and trading links is already in dispute industry-wide. This practice will become a thing of the past sooner rather than later. Buying links and reciprocal linking strategies will fade because using social media strategies delivers a higher quantity of links and in some cases higher quality links than buying and/or trading links never could have delivered. "Traditional" methods of acquiring backlinks just can't compete from an ROI standpoint with getting them via social media promotion and social networking.

Adding to the demise of these linking strategies that are soooo 2006: they just look spammy and social networking (apart from social media promotion techniques) will provide for adequate links because of the process itself. Either way, linkages will be made through a site’s content and through comments and blog roll sections.

Pay-per-click sites will find a way to sell top bookmark and tag rankings to social media users. PPC companies will need to learn how to manipulate these rankings in order to monetize it.

Social media sites currently leave no room for direct sales of PPC as we know it. However, some of the top ones plan to take advantage of PPC programs from Google, Yahoo & Microsoft-MSN-Live.com. Will this put them out of business if they can't drive enough revenue via these advertising platforms? Not necessairly. They will have to adapt and find a dependable method to monetize their services in order to keep their virtual doors open though. Let's face it, at some point the stupid money coming out of the bay-area has to dry up.

Network sites have become mini hubs for niche marketing thus, making targeting a specific audience easier to do. As advertisers begin to capitalize on the social networks, we will begin to see conversational advertising and marketing strategies gain consumer support. While targeting the audience will be easier to do, engaging the audience by keeping the interactive marketing approach fresh and appealing will be a must do for any business to survive long term.

Keyword and targeted keyword phrase strategies remain a premiere way to achieve top rankings and drive traffic with SEO and SMO. Content remains as one of the primary ways to keep and maintain a site's rankings both with SEO and SMO strategies. Keyword stuffing won't be as prevalent, necessary or effective in the future. Creative and appealing content along with interacting with the consumer has become increasingly needed. Web marketers should still focus on developing content that is geared towards retaining audience members and obtaining new ones. In addition, features need to be built into company and organizational internet properties that allow consumers and clients to interact directly with a organization's online presence. As these strategies are employed we'll see web sites develop a more stable and loyal audience base as long as they are able to engage effectively and transparently with their visitors and provide what the consumer wants.

Natural SEO practices are here to stay, but they will change in light of social media and will get shiny new acronyms. Strategies and tactics that were once must-dos for any site will become second nature and will incorporate social media practices as online marketing and advertising evolves. Learn to blend and balance your SEO strategies with your social media strategies to obtain the best results.