Cross-Pollination on Web 2.0 for SEO

Web 2.0 communities are valuable resources for SEO. That much just about everybody in the SEO industry readily agrees on.

What is more contentious is how exactly to use these resources for the benefit of one's sites.

Some people try to exploit the web 2.0 sites by flooding the communities with sales pitches or blatant keyword spamming. These tactics don't accomplish much and end up ruining things for everyone as community administrators crack down with stricter rules. For instance, Squidoo disallowed all signups from one of the biggest ISP's in Asia. Helium did the same. Other admins may not resort to such blunt instruments, but still spend a lot of money fighting spam. This is money that could be used to develop new features.

The best way, of course, is actively engage the web 2.0 communities and build networks by following others. It takes time but can be very powerful, especially on a network like Digg. If you have enough of a history and network on a site like Digg, you can easily shoot qualified material to the front page of Digg, resulting in humongous traffic.

But building a network takes time. The third option is to contribute to the web 2.0 communities without necessarily building a network. The idea is to have a limited presence on a large number of communities. The contributions can then be interlinked, resulting in synergy.

For example, we posted a blog post on blog.com about cat personalities which riffed off a previous post at OnSugar about Enlightenment. This blog here further enhances the confluence of traffic and signicance by referencing both.

While not as effective as having a zillion followers on Digg, cross-pollination on diverse Web 2.0 sites is nonetheless a valid method of extending the reach of a website's presence.