It’s the first breakout presentation of the day and the presenter is Rand Fishkin.  One of the first and most valuable tools I was exposed to when I began my career was SEOmoz, so I’m always excited to hear what he has to say.

As internet usage has evolved, it has come time for the engines to recognize the need to mirror that evolution.  And as such, Fishkin makes the point that the engines see the need for social data to be integrated in order to improve their algorithms.  Real time social streaming brings cultural relevance to search results (ex: health care reform – searches will generate not only informational results but general buzz).

Fishkin pointed out the newly released Facebook Open Graph as an example of how social is integrating with the rest of the web.

The discussion then turned toward how to harness social to your company’s advantage—

•  Bias users towards your results through suggestive searches & links
•  “Nudge” – use social norms to relate to your audience
•  Limit social/sharing options (too many MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, etc. choices!)
•  Give content that rewards users
•  Compliment/interact with sharers

Then we discusses simple ways you can track your progress and results once your name is out there—

•  Google Analytics
•  BackTweets
•  Bit.ly
•  PostRank (for daily engagements)
•  Social Mention
•  Open Site Explorer
•  Advanced Google Queries/Google Mentions