It can be hard to keep up with all the latest trends and innovations taking place in the modern world – with advancements in technology moving at a phenomenal pace, it’s almost a full-time job just trying to get our heads around the latest development before a new one takes its place.
The latest trend in the digital marketplace is the concept of hashtag engine optimisation (HEO). This may seem like a strange new concept, but with the Oxford English Dictionary recently adding ‘hashtag’ and its definition to its publication, it was only a matter of time before the hashtag was taken a step further, Business2Community writes.
HEO vs. SEO
In the article, similarities are drawn between specific search engine optimisation (SEO) tools and using hashtags to exactly the same effect. Similar to investing in SEO tools, learning how to utilise and share a hashtag effectively can boost organic search results and drive significant amounts of online traffic to a website.
HEO is one of the newest concepts to hit the marketing scene, so we are naturally very excited to learn more about it and try to incorporate it into the marketing strategies we have laid out for our clients.
By finding popular hashtags and discovering what it is they are related to, a business can create relevant content shared under the hashtag in a bid to boost exposure and hopefully generate more traffic. In terms of how HEO compares to SEO, there are a number of pros and cons related to both, of course.
Flexibility
SEO requires the use of a specific keyword or keywords that need to be included in the title of an article, the article itself and as the overarching theme of an article. With HEO, however, a business is able to use any hashtag they desire, meaning companies are a lot freer when it comes to their content creation – of course more positive results are generated if the hashtag chosen is somehow related, and isn’t just random.
The time is takes to garner results from SEO can also take a lot longer than it does with HEO. With SEO it can take a while for search engine result pages (SERPs) to index a piece of content and push it up the search rankings – however, with HEO the progress of a piece of content can be followed from the moment it is published.
Shelf Life
Keywords used in SEO have a lot more longevity than hashtags, which is one positive. Although they may take a little more effort to create and more time to generate results, they are longer-lasting.
Nevertheless, in today’s ever evolving and fast-paced society, hashtags hold more sway. They are closer linked to the here-and-now and what’s popular in the present.
It is the perfect time to start investigating how your company can use HEO, as the concept is still fresh and there is little competition out there, meaning the results should be fairly instant. Although it seems like a quick and easy replacement to what can be the labour-intensive task of SEO, understanding and creating the best hashtag for your company can be hard, particularly when its exposure is due to be huge.
If you think you’d struggle to adopt this latest marketing trend, give us a call today and we’ll talk you through how we can make HEO work for you.