#What #is #Hashtag definition? How are top digital marketing companies using #hashtag effectively for their brand especially as part of their SEO strategy?

If you use Twitter or Instagram, I’m sure you would have used Hashtags in your updates. Basically, #Hashtag is a metadata tag which became very popular with Twitter adopting it as part of their keywords indexing system to help quickly search for tweets mentioning the keywords. With Hashtag, it lists all tweets that contain the searched #keyword. Some of the examples are #scarlettjohannson, #seo, #sem, #EURO2016, or #MTVAwardsStar etc.

Hashtags aren’t confined to social media platforms anymore. They are used so frequently that even the TV commercials now show them as part of the ad. In 2014, 57% of the Super Bowl ads used hashtags.

Over the last few years, the #Hashtag has become an integral part of social media marketing strategy on Facebook, Twitter and even on Google +. However, how it is been used for the benefit of #SEO is still to be seen. One reason could be low hashtag search volume – which means there isn’t enough search volume for #hashtag version of keywords against the normal keyword variation. Below is the Google trend graph comparison for #SEO Vs SEO keyword.

[#SEO] Keyword Google Trend

[SEO] Keyword Google Trend

Below is the #SEO trend graph on Twitter which shows how popular is hashtag search on it.

How to use hashtag effectively for business?

Is #Hashtag the neglected underdog in SEO ignored by SEO managers? At a time, when businesses of all sizes use everything they can to get a better outcome from their search engine performance efforts, why it hasn’t been exploited effectively.

As a digital marketer, one cannot ignore the importance of hashtag marketing strategies. Such as, creating a collection of tags, that can be used consistently in campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Google+, instead of creating new hashtags for every content campaign. This way, with repeated use of these tags in a range of campaigns, it becomes stronger. Marketers can take help of hashtag generators, to quickly get a list of hashtag ideas.

Ever since Google+ integrated hashtags as part of their system back in 2013, Google search updated to include hashtags in their search results. So, it makes SEO sense to take advantage of Google+ activities. Google says, in the search results, they will show public posts along with posts that are shared with the user who is searching, in case they are signed in.

Always use meaningful and unique tags to avoid misinterpretation. There are so many cases of Hashtag campaigns gone wrong which ended up hurting the brand and overall brand sentiments. Some of the top marketing hashtags gone wrong on Twitter are #susanalbumparty (interpreted as #SusAnalBumParty), #StayPutinLabour (read as #Stay Putin Labour) etc.

Rock your SEO World

To rock your SEO world, the first step is hashtag optimisation which should support the existing #keywords being targeted. Try using the optimised tags on multiple social platforms wherever possible to encourage audience engagement which in turn will increase #SEORankings.

Additionally, businesses can take advantage of existing trending hashtags and piggyback on them for greater search visibility of their own tags. Use #BrandSpecific hashtags when retweeting or replying to specific tweets or posts. The more the original post gets shared/tagged, the better the chances are for your tags to be promoted as well.

As Google has already integrated Hashtag searches in the SERPs, always use tags whenever publishing any post on Google+. Tt’s seen that Google picks up updates from Google+ relevant to the searches.

So, with a proper and focused use of hashtags, businesses can get a lot of #SEObenefits besides branding on social media platforms.