Comments on: User Generated Content for SEO

By: Boris

Boris — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 07:05:46 +0000

Ya gotta love this industry with all of its SEO, or was that SEM, or was that SMO, and now UGC… I thinks its all so funny, especially this one, UGC, that is so close to being my initials… That’s what caught my eye, and now I understand UGC.

By: UGC and SEO: Going for the Long Tail Keywords? at Emergence Media

UGC and SEO: Going for the Long Tail Keywords? at Emergence Media — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:32:55 +0000

[...] Odden has laid out the reasons for UGC, citing some of the many studies that point to [...]

By: Greg Powell

Greg Powell — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:34:47 +0000

Nice thread for sure. It seems there must be some descretion made by the reader when it comes to the post. Does the author have something to gain by making this post?
If yes, there is a usually a sales driven hyperlink included in the post. If not then the author most likely has a more conversational tone to his message and is passionate about their opinion.

Any more ideas on how we as marketers can acquire more honest UGC without disallowing links to be posted?

By: Garry Przyklenk

Garry Przyklenk — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 15:20:24 +0000

Greg,

You brought up another great point. Depending on the type of site, UGC’s are by nature honest and trustworthy. If you read a good review on an apartment you went to see first, you would quickly learn whether the original poster was honest or full of it. There would be no point for the original UGC to be dishonest because there is nothing in it for them, plus the comment could be disproved easily.

Lee, I’ll give it to you, this thread is an interesting discussion…

By: Greg Powell

Greg Powell — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 17:28:14 +0000

Honestly what Garry is saying has to be correct. Just a quick look at Yahoo Answers will give you an idea of what is true UGC and what is Affiliate Links and Spam.

However I must say, when searching for a new apartment I relied on user review sites like mad when making my decision. This is a tough cookie…

By: Garry

Garry — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 01:06:06 +0000

Sure, relevant, honest UGC is priceless, but without control over the content being submitted, how can anyone truly weed out the true contributors and the affiliates? UGC is quickly becoming (if not already) a crock thanks to affiliate marketing.

After managing several affiliate campaigns in my time, I don’t trust a word of any UGC unless the publisher keeps placements moderated. However even with moderation, user reviews of products and services are usually bunk – twisted and conceived by marketers at the publisher themselves.

By: Michael Dorausch

Michael Dorausch — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 18:21:42 +0000

One of the most overlooked sources (IMO) of UGC is classifieds. Imagine, user generated long tail localized phrase queries, including photos. You may think the space is too saturated, but in niche markets there is plenty of opportunity.

By: Lee Odden

Lee Odden — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:29:54 +0000

Interesting Michael B., I’ll check it out.

Thanks Michael M., you make a good point. There are plenty of small biz sites managed with FrontPage or even Adobe Contribute that make it easy for site owners to add content they’ve received from enthusiasts. I’ve seen quite a few examples of this in the auto industry where vehicle owners send in photos of their souped up cars or in another example, newlyweds sending photos of themselves in rented vintage limousines.

By: Mike Mothner

Mike Mothner — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:28:07 +0000

I think user-generated content is an issue that deserves more attention as it is becoming more relevant online marketing everyday. The fact that consumers now have the expectation that they will be able to contribute to the content they are finding in the search results, through such means as product reviews, marks a significant change from the traditional notion of search engines. I believe that it has the potential to only help both consumers and sellers alike.

By: Michael Martinez

Michael Martinez — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:18:12 +0000

This is a great article, Lee. I would add only one option to your list of what new marketers might consider: “forums, reviews, blogs or social media?” I’d also say “traditional static content”. There is plenty of room for it left on the Web and some sites will always be able to make better use of static content than of CMS-driven content simply because of the needs and capabilities of the people manning the sites.

I have a site where I manually vet user-generated content and I post it by hand in occasional updates. While that seems inefficient, it meets my need to control the growth of that site because it’s not a resource that can be monitored by a traditional moderation team.

On a small site, this is a viable option and a very helpful one as that particular site generates a lot of email for me.

By: Michael Brito

Michael Brito — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:45:03 +0000

Lee – we just launched a research project here at Yahoo! Bix that compliments this post.

http://versus.bix.yahoo.com/

It’s UGC with a voting twist and discussion. Please forgive the UI….still just a project.

Michael