The infographic has been a popular piece of content on the
internet as of late, with mammoth tech sites like Mashable often featuring them
for audiences to share amongst each other on social networks. Internet
marketers quickly caught on to the fact that users would rather have gotten
their information through images and graphics-rich material instead of having
to read paragraph upon paragraph.
Consider the success of Pinterest in case you need a
reminder of that claim. Such content seems to have exploded within a short
period of time, and the popularity to users does not seem to be declining
anytime soon.
That sort of sharing power from aesthetics is essential for
SEO, so marketers quickly jumped on the infographic train. Almost everyday, any
user would come across dozens of infographics that covered basically anything.
Though the power of them have reigned recently, marketers who depend on them
may want to start reconsidering just how much they should be used.
Google's Matt Cutts, the known guru of SEO, says that the
power of infographics will probably start to dwindle in the future since some
issues are starting to get caught on to. For one, Cutts finds infographics that
get published contain incorrect information for users, and that the users also may
not know that they are sharing embedded links within the infographic to others.
With this level of incorrect information, Cutts said that
this could lead to the infographic to be considered as spam. This quick
production and hidden content of such graphics seems to reveal their intent of
not spread valuable information, but just links.
He makes it clear that there while there will still be value
for visible links that go to the infographic, embedded links will start to lose
juice for marketers who depend on them. The embedded links will not cause any
penalization or harm the rank of the SEO's website, but simply won't make any
difference at all, as long as the information is correct. Even this is left to
question though.
According to Brafton.com, Cutts and Google are in the
process of creating a plan that will more accurately define and assign the
power that infographics will carry. The report also says that the infographics
need to be more user-focused in terms of correct and relevant information. While aesthetics
play a big role in a person’s decision to look at and share, bad information
can be a dangerous trend, and will probably lead to a ranking demise.
On an article from Search Engine Watch, one of the leading
internet publications for SEO, they provided an ideal example of exactly what
could hurt your rankings. While there was of course information on it, there
were little to no references into what it was about. No time reference,
geographical indications or any sort of trends. It was more or less just raw
information that clearly carried no retention or value to the user.
Cutts also said, according to Search Engine Watch, that the
infographics being made should be related to your business, and “to be fully
disclosed to what you are doing.” This certainly pertains to what Cutts had
mentioned about embedded links going to websites that have little or nothing to
do at all with the infographic itself. Users might get confused or mislead when
the information tells them one thing, and then they get led to another set of
subjects and information.
So what does all of this say about you and your internet
marketing business? Well, as Cutts has made it clear, it is pertinent to be
sure that you create your infographics for the sake of your users and not just
SEO purposes. They can be an invaluable tool for sharing, but with how smart
Google is getting, it seems that they know when something is off topic or
misleading.
Considering the behavior of internet users, if it is found
that the information that was provided can be proven and accepted by
knowledgable sources, then you might find that to be towards your advantages,
both in terms of sharing and the newest rules of Google. Good graphics and
information that can be easily accessed by users will likely carry more weight
in terms of sharing rather than just an article.
If you know how important this is, then you will know to
invest extra time into what you are doing with the infographic. It's really
that simple.
As could be applied to any sort of SEO, use tools like
infographics wisely, but it is not wise to use them in an abusive manner.
Relevancy, accuracy and focus are all keys if you want your infographics to
lead to success in the future. Other than the mentioning by Cutts, little is
known about when the new rules will be enacted.
About author:
Mike Lamardo is a contributor to blogs that cover tech, SEO,
entertainment and more. On the side, he contributes and works for sites like
ZME, Uverse and more.
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