From the Yoga Cowgirl to a wide variety of family and kids activities, corporate and fitness programs, unbelievable horseback riding, fly fishing and choice ranch cuisine. The Red Rock Ranch is an authentic Dude Ranch located just outside Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
YouTube is currently testing a new feature with a pilot group of YouTubers that allow annotations in video clips to be linked to a page within an associated website.
YouTube presently allows linked annotations to a YouTube Channel, Video, Playlist and subscribe option. If the pilot is successful, users will be able to link to any page on the associated website set in YouTube settings. Linking to any other website aside from what was set as the associated website is prohibited.
Here’s How It Works (and to see if you are part of the pilot group)
Within your YouTube settings select the ‘associated website’ option. Enter your website URL in the box provided.
Getting Started with Linked YouTube Annotations
Now that the associated website has been set, choose a video in the video manager to add a linked annotation. Use the edit drop-down next to the video to select the annotations option.
YouTube Linked Annotations Edit
Once the create/edit annotation screen loads, either create a new annotation or select an existing. Select the checkbox for ‘link’, then choose ‘associated website’ from the options. And finally, add the URL of the page located within the website previously set as the associated website.
If ‘associated website’ is not one of the available options, you are most likely not part of the pilot group.
Adding a Linked Annotation to a YouTube Video
Once you’ve entered the URL for the link, save and publish the changes. The new linked annotation should look something like the one displayed below.
YouTube Linked Annotation Result
No word yet on if or how much link juice/authority will pass from annotated links. However, this could be an opportunity to further integrate website offerings with YouTube content.
Plus, giving viewers the option to obtain extended or supplemental information about the video they are watching benefits not only the viewer, but the website as well – regardless of any link juice issues.
The majority of the pilot group of YouTubers that have linked annotations enabled were sent an email from YouTube notifying them of this. Still, it might be worth it to check for yourself.
Search operators are used to help narrow or expand a search. In their most basic form, search operators can be as simple as including ‘AND’ or ‘OR’ between search variables (keyphrases).
For Example, the search operator ‘AND’ can be used to return the results of two, combined keyphrases: ‘blue widgets AND red widgets’.
There are many Google search operators that exist. Including a handful that can be utilized for high-value SEO purposes.
1. Search for results within a specific site based on a targeted keyword
Useful for determining which page within a site has the most authority (in the eyes of Google) for a specific keyphrase.
Syntax: site:specificsite.com key phrase
Example – search calihotsprings.com for the page with the most authority for Wilbur Hot Springs:
site:calihotsprings.com wilbur hot springs
Google Search Operator in Action
2. See who’s linking to a specific website (note Google doesn’t display all sites, just a percentage of them)
Useful to determine who is linking to a specific website.
Syntax: link:specificsite.com
Example – find out who’s linking to calihotsprings.com:
link:calihotsprings.com
3. Search for sites related to a specific site
Syntax: related:specificsite.com
Example – search google for websites that are similar to calihotsprings.com:
related:calihotsprings.com
4. Display a list of websites that contain a specific keyphrase within the page title
Useful as a competitive measure by determining potential competeting websites for a specific keyphrase.
Syntax: allintitle:specific keyphrase
Example – display a list of potential competitors for the search term ‘california hot springs’:
allintitle:california hot springs
The possible SEO related applications of the resulting SERP (search engine result page) by utilizing the above Google Search Operators are limitless! Please comment with any favs of your own.
Much like SEO, the social media realm is beleaguered in a continuous state of flux. Which is to be expected, as we blunder and plunder our way along the path to social sentient enlightenment.
If Stuart Smalley Can – So Can You
Some of the best advice I was given long ago in regard to getting social with media, something you hear over and over these days, is to focus on your passion and just be yourself. Sounds easy, right? More like easier said than done.
I can’t teach you how to be yourself (let’s be honest – no one wants that), but I can set you in the right direction by helping remove distortion from the process.
Early on, SEOs and new media marketers looked at social networks as a way for rapid deployment of their branding message. Which was typically automatically syndicated, over and over and over.
Tools like Hootsuite enticed marketers with the ‘set it and forget it’ broadcast methodology by allowing users to punch in, schedule or automatically feed a status update, the exact same status update, to every single social network. In some instances multiple times. While this got (out of hand quickly) the word out, it eroded the ‘social’ aspect of engagement with bot-delivered duplicate status updates.
If you followed a brand on Facebook, Twitter and Google, it was pretty common to see the same message hit each network at the same time a few times. Lamesauce.
Trading out a measure of distortion for one with more control can help your status updates regain a healthy portion of human personality.
Here’s how to get started:
You need to control and massage each message per social network to maximize effectiveness. That’s right. Old Skool.
This means you pick the pic that shows on your Facebook status update, not Facebook. This will allow you to ‘speak’ a little more true to self when sharing content on social networks instead of sharing status updates composed of bland web page titles like a robot.
Plus, at all costs, try to get your actual URL in the status update instead of a URL shortner. Link juice never tasted so good!
While I can’t tell you a sure-fire way to ‘be yourself’ and ‘follow your passion’ at the same time (or independently), I can tell you that focusing more on what you share on each social network will yield personality to your status updates.
Turning off automatic, syndicating status updates is a great way to start sounding less like a pre-recorded message.
You Might Also
Consider limiting daily status updates to 3-5/day and not posting the same update to each network, but to the one most relevant. Or, if you’ve got BIG NEWS, at least consider a unique approach to updating each social network.
A little personality can go a long way. Or, be a bot if you want.