Good SEO is all about keyword placement and frequency, rich and original copy and maybe a few images with the right tags and captions. But SEO practices are changing. Nowadays savvy SEO guys are realizing the merit of certain forms of online media that don’t appear to be SEO-friendly. It’s hard to make images and video formats fork for your SEO but the following 3 examples show that it can be done. As long as you have naturally compelling content, then you will generate links and traffic, and these types of media can help you, as long as you do it right.

Vine

Recently it was revealed that 5 tweets per second contain a Vine. It’s a short video with audio that is broadcast directly to mobiles via the Vine app. It can also be shared on social media or embedded. You can use existing Vines that other people have made if they are relevant to your site, or if you are feeling creative then start making your own ones. This Vine below is an example of how businesses can use Vine as a form of free advertising.

Gifs

If you are running a Tumblr blog then you will see a lot of these animated image files. They are very old as a format, but nowadays they are more sophisticated, much larger, and include video footage. They don’t include audio like Vine does but are great for posting sassy emotional reactions. If you are writing a blog about something and want to express your emotional response to someone or something, then you can skip the words and just post a Gif like the one below. Images liven up a blog, so animated images do so even more.

Memes

These should be used sparingly in my opinion. Originally a form of communication used exclusively by fedora-wearing cyber shut-ins, they have now entered mainstream discourse and are scattered over social networking sites. They are even used in commercial advertising now. This baby with a clenched fist was a popular internet meme that was picked up by Virgin Media and used for their own purposes.

So it’s clear that memes aren’t just for geeks anymore. Even Transport for London used a meme-like motivational font and image as part of a public health announcement which was aimed at New Year’s Eve revelers. You can use one of the meme generator sites out there to make a meme picture that is relevant to the blog you are writing. If it’s amusing then it will attract attention and naturally improve SEO. You can also just recycle existing memes, that’s kind of what they’re for. Make sure you understand the context of the meme before you just put text over a random image though, otherwise, you may upset some internet-humor-loving geeks.