SEO Traffic: Top Social Bookmarking Sites for 2013

The Best Social Bookmarking Sites

Source: Brian Scott

The Best of the Best - Social Bookmarking Sites

The purpose of social bookmarking sites is to let users bookmark, organize, and share content and resources with the masses. For SEO purposes, social bookmarking is a proven way to: 1) Index your content faster; 2) drive more traffic to your website; 3) improve your website's Google PageRank (PR) over time; 4)rank your website's individual posts and articles higher in search results; and 5) build a loyal following of readers and fans.

In this special Hub, I review and rate the top social bookmarking sites that work and will produce results for you. I will show you how to do it all.

My ethics: I use only safe, proven, reliable White Hat techniques, meaning I am completely againstspamming, posting mass links to thousands of sites at once, trying to manipulate search results, or posting questionable content. I am completely against using any service or software that automates the process of creating fake accounts and posting anonymous content. This is a sure way for any site to ban you and your IP address for life. Plus, it is a known fact that if you blast hundreds of useless bookmarking sites (such as useless Pligg sites) with links all pointing to the same website, Google is more likely to de-index your site indefinitely.

My method: Because I manually andpersonally visit each site and submit original, unique content (even if it is for the same link), I have carefully selected only a handful of social bookmarking sites that produce the best results. Each of these sites allow you to: 1) bookmark links from your own websites or blogs without waiting for approval; 2) post original descriptions of what each links leads to (for better and faster indexing); 3)add a professional profile on a separate page at the site which allows you to add direct contextual links to your website or blog.

If you don't understand some of these terms, don't worry. I will clarify everything as we continue.

Please BOOKMARK Me :)

** Please BOOKMARK this webpage to refer back to it. I am constantly updating and improving my SEO techniques.

If you find my Hub useful, please "Like it" and share it with your friends and colleagues. I also encourage comments at the end of my Hub.

Wishing you tremendous success online,
Brian Scott,
freelance writer
Join me at my blog
My other Hubs: http://creativegenius.hubpages.com/

** You also might be interested in my other Hubs, Top Article Directories with High PR (for SEO purposes), and Free Press Release Distribution Sites (for SEO purposes). Both of these articles strongly complement this Hub.

This webpage is copyrighted. All content on this webpage is protected by United States copyright laws and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast elsewhere without written permission from me.

By the way...

Throughout this Hub, I will be using the abbreviation "SB sites" to mean "social bookmarking site(s)" to avoid a false positive on high "keyword density" issues with search engines.

A quick explanation...

First, let me show you my hand-picked social bookmarking sites that I frequently use. Then I will explain what each column means. The table is sortable, you can click on any of the top cells to sort according to name, traffic, PageRank, etc.

Table # 1: Top Social Bookmarking Sites

(click column header to sort results)

Site	PageRank	Alexa Rating	Backlinks	Do Follow Links	Profile Links	My Rating
Slashdot.org	8	1,196	82,327	No	Yes - NF	****
Identi.ca	8	8,251	38,118	YES	YES	*****
Reddit.com	8	125	607,946	YES	NO	*****
LifeHacker.com	7	636	46,795	YES	YES	****
Storify.com	7	4,281	38,867	YES	YES	****
Newsvine.com	7	3,706	137,976	YES	YES - DF	****
Bibsonomy.org	7	5,551	14,089	NO	YES - DF	****
Stumbleupon .com	7	166	781,563	YES	YES - NF	*****
Diigo.com	7	1,352	81,146	YES	YES - NF	****
NowPublic.com	7	9,752	7,378	NO	YES - NF	*
Dzone.com	6	3,187	23,265	YES	NO	***
Bizsugar.com	6	5,364	15,682	YES	YES - DF	****
Netlog.com	6	764	58,437	NO	YES - NF	***
Bebo.com	6	4,302	34,787	YES	YES - DF	****
Folkd.com	6	2,988	41,357	YES	YES - NF	****
Dotnetshoutout .com	5	16,971	4,434	YES	YES - DF	***
BuddyMarks.com	5	8,011	9,743	YES	NO	***
Apsense.com	5	2,174	10,292	YES	YES - DF	****
Webshare.co	5	86,267	351	YES	YES - DF	*
Throwpile.com	5	449,372	400	YES	YES -DF	*
Tagza.com	5	6,925	15,947	YES	YES - DF	***
Dropjack.com	5	7,467	12,004	YES	YES - DF	****
Extraplay.com	5	62,879	216	YES	YES - DF	*
Givealink.org	5	15,071	2,597	YES	YES - DF	**

Table # 2: Social Media Sites with Bookmarking Functions

(click column header to sort results)

Bookmarking Site	Page Rank	Alexa Rating	Backlinks	Do Follow Links	Profile Links
Technorati.com	8	1,650	489,901	YES	YES - DF
Tumblr.com	8	31	484,040	YES	YES - DF
Facebook.com	9	2	8,148,469	NO	YES - NF
Twitter.com	10	10	6,241,756	YES	YES - NF
Google Plus	9	N/A	N/A	YES	YES - NF
Pinterest.com	8	35	851,603	NO	YES - DF
LinkedIn.com	9	14	1,494,348	NO	YES - DF

I rate all of these social media sites five stars because they are the best of the best.

WHAT THE TABLE MEANS

1) Bookmarking site name: the name of the site. I have left off a few of the popular sites, like Digg.com. This is because such sites don't let you add your own links and descriptions without a moderator judging them (oftentimes unfairly) for approval or rejection. I have included only sites that empower the user to submit links that he or she likes or wants to add to the site without judgment or waiting.

2) PageRank. As you can see, I only use top quality sites with high PageRank. A PageRank is Google's "secret sauce" to gauge the overall quality and reputation of a website. The higher the pagerank, the higher quality (at least in Google's eyes). Websites with high Page Rank often rank higher in search engine results, especially for new content. I prefer a bookmarking site with a PageRank of 5 and above.

Let's say you've added a new article at your website. It's not yet indexed in the search engines. Users can't find your new article by doing a search. When you bookmark your article at a high pagerank social bookmarking site, your link and its description get indexed within hours (sometimes sooner).

3) Alexa Rating: the LOWER the number, the MORE traffic the website generates.

4) Backlinks: the number represents the current total number of backlinks the site has. Backlinks equal popularity. The more backlinks, the more popular the site is among users.

5) Do Follow Links: this means when you bookmark a link to your site from a social bookmarking site, the "do follow" link transfers a percent of its PageRank to you. A site with a PageRank of 8 does NOT automatically give your website or webpage a PR of 8, only a tiny fraction of a percent. "Do follow" links mean Google and other search engines will visit your site or specific page and index it.

The opposite of "do follow" is an HTML element called "nofollow" which is appended to the link. A "nofollow" link means the bookmarking site still gets indexed by search engines, but Google and other search engines will not follow the link to your site. It also will not pass any PageRank to your site.

"No follow" links are still valuable. The content and links that you add to a social bookmarking site will still show up in search engines. Plus, according to SEO experts, Google prefers a mix of "do follow" and "no follow" links if you are bookmarking the same link from a dozen or so social bookmarking sites.

6) Profile Links: All of my SB sites offer a separate profile page for your account. This lets you create a more detailed profile of yourself and your websites. You can add a photo, a description, links to your websites and other social media profiles, contact info., your personal interests, etc. The purpose of a profile page is to make you look "more human" to users who see your bookmarked links. When you create an engaging, meaningful profile page, users are more likely to subscribe to your profile and follow your activities. This means whenever you add a new link, your followers are instantly notified that you have added a new link.

Some profile pages have "do follow links"--this adds a second level of passing traffic, pagerank, and faster indexing of your content. A "NF" in this column means the profile page lets you add links, but they are "no follow."

7) My Rating: I rate each bookmarking site based on 5 stars, with 1 star being the lowest and 5 stars being the highest.

Twitter and Facebook

Think of Twitter and Facebook

By definition and function, bothFacebook and Twitter are not completely classified as "social bookmarking sites," even though you can use them as such. Both sites let you: 1) add links that lead to content elsewhere; 2) build a loyal following of fans; 3) index your links faster; 4) create a detailed profile page; 5) drive traffic to your website; and 6) improve your "social status" online.

SB sites are similar to Facebook and Twitter. If you know how to use Facebook or Twitter, then you know how to use any SB site because they have the same functions and share similar purposes.

Diingo logo (TM)

Source: Diingo.com

EXAMPLE OF BOOKMARKING A LINK

I will use social bookmarking siteDiingo.com to show you how to bookmark "a link." This link may be an article at your website, a product at your online store, your video at YouTube, or whatever type of link that you want to bookmark and share with the masses.

You can use the following step-by-step process with all of the SB sites that I have listed in Table # 1. Each SB site will be slightly different in setting up your profile and bookmarking a link process, but not to a great degree.

Step # 1: Go to Diingo.com and register for a new account. After the e-mail verification, sign in to your new account.

Step # 2: At the top of the screen it will display your name or username. Mine is Brian Scott (my name). Click on your name and it will display a dropdown menu. Click on "Profile" to fill out your profile.

Click on Profile

In the drop-down menu, click on the PROFILE link.

Source: Diigo.com

Profile Screen - Complete It

User's Social Bookmarking Profile Screen

Source: Diigo.com

At the Profile Screen, complete as much information as you deem necessary, especially the "About Me" part because search engines will index this text. For clarification, here are what the numbers correspond to:

1. First Name.

2. Last Name. Use a pen name if you wish.

3. About Me. Write something interesting about yourself, what you do, your interests, etc. Remember, you don't just want to bookmark links, but add a human touch to your activities so that users follow you. Also, because search engines will index this text, optimize it with low-density keywords and phrases to make is easier for like-minded people with similar interests find you in searches.

4. I use Diigo because. You can use this space to add more details about yourself, using more low-density keywords and phrases that can further optimize your profile in search engines.

5. Industry. Choose the most suitable industry for you or your business.

6. Your Country. Choose your country.

Me Elsewhere Tab

Next click on the tab, "Me Elsewhere." Diigo.com lets you add external links to your personal website, blogs, social media sites, YouTube account, etc. These links will appear on your public profile page as well as on your page of bookmarked links.

As an example, you can see the website URLS that I added to my profile (follow the red arrows). These URLs point to my website, blog, Twitter profile, Facebook page, etc.

Add as many external website URLs that you own.

Source: Diigo.com

Adding a New Bookmark

Some SB sites have a separate page to manually add a new link; other SB sites like Diigo.com, make you add their own "bookmarking button" to your browser's toolbar--when you want to add a new link, you simply click on the button.

To add your first bookmark, click on the "Tools" tab at the top and follow the instructions on the page to add Diigo's bookmarking button to your browser's toolbar. Once you have added it, click on it and an "Add New Bookmark" screen will pop up.

"Add a New Bookmark" screen

Source: Diigo.com

The process of adding a new bookmark is very similar at other SB sites. Here is what you must fill in:

1. URL: This is your website's link to whatever it is you are linking to. For example, if you just posted a new article your website and want to add it as a bookmark, you insert that link which leads users directly to that article.

In my example, I just posted a new article at my blog. I provide the direct link to it.

2. Title: This is the title of your link. The title of my blog post is called, "World Records in Poetry" and this is the title that I use. Feel free to tweak or reword titles so that search engines will not match duplicate entries from other SB sites that you might use for the same link.

3. Description: Now write a unique, original description of what the link leads to. Don't just copy the same text that you've used elsewhere. When you write original descriptions, search engines will index it as "new" content and not duplicate content found elsewhere.

4. Tags: These are keywords relevant to your link. For my article on poetry, I use the obvious keywords that users might type in to the search box at the SB site.

5. Add New Bookmark: Click the button to add your bookmark.

As soon as you add a new bookmark Diigo takes you to your personal public profile page, viewable by search engines and users.

The following screenshot is from my own public profile page after I have added a new bookmark.

My public profile page

Source: Diigo.com

THE PERSONAL PROFILE PAGE FOR SEO PURPOSES

Let me explain the importance of having a personal profile page at a SB site.

1) Do you see the red arrow and asterisk at the top? I wanted to draw attention to the fact that most SB sites will create your own personal Profile URL that you can publicize at other social media sites, including your personal website. Your public profile page displays your information and your activities.

2) Tag Cloud. The more links you bookmark and tag, the more relevant tags appear on your profile page. Each tag leads to a relevant link that you have bookmarked.

3) Your External Links. When you were completing your profile, you were asked to add external links to your other websites and social media sites. They are now all displayed on your public profile page, allowing users to visit your other websites.

4) More. When you click on the link "More" it will take you to a second profile page listing ALL of your bookmarks.

5) Recent Bookmarks. This section, at the bottom, lists a handful of your most recent bookmarks.

To view your second public profile page, click on the MORE link. The following (partial) screenshot shows you my second public profile page which lists all of the links that I've bookmarked.

DETAILED PROFILE PAGE

A second public profile page that provides more detailed information of your activities

Source: courtesy of Diigo.com

This second profile page, called "______ Public Library" will list all of your bookmarks in more detail. Every title is contextually hyperlinked to whatever it is you linked to.

Below the title is the original description that you had provided to describe what the link leads to.

Below the description is the actual link that is bookmarked.

Redo submission process

Redoing the Process with Other Bookmarking Sites

Once you have followed and completed the above process, you can apply the same process with most every other SB site and achieve the same results.

Remember: you do not have to use every SB site in Table #1. Only select a few to start and build your online presence at each. Find the ones that appeal to your interests and fit your marketing strategy. To make it easy, sort my table according to my rating and start with the SB sites with 4 or 5 stars.

KEYS TO SUCCESS - HIGH-QUALITY BOOKMARKING

Even for SEO purposes, social bookmarking sites are still about sharing useful information with like-minded individuals. If you are just bookmarking poorly-written garbage at your website, hoping to drive traffic to increase Adsense clicks or sell affiliate products, your account is likely to be classified as "spam" and permanently deleted.

You only want to bookmark useful, engaging content or webpages that you know will interest readers or buyers. Always strive for quality, not quantity.

Let me reveal what is considered low-quality and high-quality bookmarking practices.

Thumbs down

LOW-QUALITY

1. Bookmarking random links to your website.

2. Bookmarking all links at your website.

3. Using an automated service to bookmark every post at your website.

4. Using a service that blasts the same bookmark to multiple services at once.

5. Writing low-quality descriptions of the link.

6. Using the same description at all bookmarking sites.

7. Manipulating keywords in the title of the link to manipulate rankings in search engine results.

Thumbs up

HIGH-QUALITY BOOKMARKING PRACTICES

1. Manually bookmarking quality links that lead to quality content.

2. Writing original, unique descriptions for each link that you bookmark.

3. Writing an engaging title that is relevant to the bookmarked link.

4. Spending time at the SB site to befriend and follow other bookmarkers with similar interests. Following other users at a bookmarking site will encourage them to follow you as well.

5. Writing a thoughtful, complete profile that represents you and uploading a photo or avatar.

6. Selectively choosing the best content to bookmark, and selectively choosing what content NOT to bookmark.

7. Adding other bookmarks to other websites that you visit. For example, I visit CNN.com and ESPN.com often. When I find a useful article of high-quality, I will bookmark it to my public profile.

8. Using a SB site for bookmarking AND building a loyal follow of fans whom you've convinced that you bookmark only high-quality content.

Will you pass or fail at social bookmarking?

*** The days are gone for using SB sites as a dumping ground for bookmarking every single page of your website without an eye for quality control. It simply does not work anymore. It's all about quality. The higher the quality, the more people will follow you and share your links with their friends and colleague. This produces the best kind of traffic, Page Rank, backlinks, and social networking activities.

Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter will create the best results for you over the long term.

Source: B. Scott

RULE THE INTERNET WITH SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

If you look at Table # 2, I have listed "Social Media Sites with Bookmarking Functions." What this means is that you can use such sites to bookmark and share links with users while building a loyal fanbase. Such sites usually have a different niche or main purpose other than bookmarking stuff.

I recommend that you sign up AND use many or all of these social media sites that I have listed in Table # 2. In fact, I recommend you start with these social media sites, BEFORE you start building a presence on the SB sites in Table #1.

Highly-trafficked and highly-reputable sites like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc. are simply superior in driving the most traffic to your website and building a faster fanbase of loyal followers. Additionally, new website links are indexed faster, along with any original descriptions that you add to the link submissions.

I recommend you research each of these social media sites and find out proven ways to maximize each service. Let me share with you how I use each one on an ongoing basis.

Twitter.com

Twitter.com

1. TWITTER. People follow me at Twitter because they share the same interests that I have in my professional field. They also follow me because I follow them. When I have something interesting to say that requires only 1-2 sentences, I post it at Twitter. Because I love perusing Google News for timely news stories in my profession, I research unique, interesting articles that I know my fans will love and post a link in my Tweet which leads directly to the article. Twitter also lets you add a description AND a direct link to your website in a public profile page.

Pinterest.com

Pinterest.com

2. PINTEREST. People flock to Pinterest to look at cool images, photos, snapshots, illustrations, infographics...basically, anything visual. I have a Pinterest account where I post my own graphic designs that appeal to people in my profession. Because I post quality images and links, people follow me and repin my images to their own Pinterest folders and share my images with friends and colleagues. Besides the social buzz that Pinterest can create for you, it also allows you to add your own website link on the main page of your Pinterest account. This is a DO FOLLOW link that will pass PageRank to your website. Additionally, because I design my own images, I add my own websites at the end of each graphic design. The more people who share my designs, the better chance they will see my website and visit it.

LinkedIn.com

LinkedIn.com

3. LINKEDIN. I have a LinkedIn account to showcase and publicize my business and my services. You should too. Even if you don't run a business, you can use LinkedIn to create a personal profile. LinkedIn lets you bookmark links to your profile. For example, when I write a new article for my website or for a publication, I bookmark the link and add a description of the link to my LinkedIn profile. Anyone who visits my LinkedIn profile page will see links that I have bookmarked and will most likely visit them. I also list a few of my own websites as part of my profile.

Facebook.com

Facebook.com

4. FACEBOOK. I probably don't need to tell you that Facebook is the "holy grail" of bookmarking links, sharing information with like-minded people, building a fan base, and branding yourself. I have both a Facebook page and a Facebook Group. My Facebook page is simply a page that represents me as an individual. When I want to share an article that I've written, I can post the link and Facebook with automatically import the description of what the link leads to and then share it with my followers. A few years ago I had set up a separate Facebook Group to connect with individuals and businesses in my profession. Providing useful links, quality content, and engaging with my fans, I have grown my Facebook Group to over 20,000 active members.

Google+ Social Networking

Blogger.com blogging platform

Google+ and Blogger.com

5. GOOGLE +. Because my time is restricted, I don't actively use Google +, BUT since I actively use Blogger as my blogging platform, Google automatically established a Google + account for me. Whenever I post new content at my blog, Google automatically bookmarks the new content to my Google + profile page. More people are now following me on Google + and adding me to their Google Circles. Google + is another place where I can add external links to my web properties as well as bookmark relevant content that will lead people to my blog.

Tumblr microblogging platform

Tumbr.com

6. TUMBLR. Much like Google's Blogger, Tumblr is a micro-blogging platform that lets you bookmark and share links, post content, add videos and quotes, and build a loyal following of readers within the Tumblr community as well as elsewhere. When I add new content to my Tumblr page, I often find it indexed quickly and ranked within the top 25 results of Google search results, depending on which keywords I use in the title of the post. I use Tumblr to pass PageRank and traffic to my other sites, as well as to get certain types of content ranked higher in search engines.

My final words to you...

FINAL WORDS

Just like any type of marketing (offline or online), social bookmarking is an ongoing marketing process of establishing a presence and building backlinks to your website so you can gradually increase traffic, improve PageRank, and turn visitors into loyal followers. Focus on quality, not quantity.

Using an automated service or hiring some anonymous self-proclaimed SEO expert on Fiverr.com to submit hundreds of links to hundreds of low-quality bookmarking sites may increase your ranking in search engine results, but this is only temporarily. A week or so later your website plummets in rankings because Google starts to penalize your website for using spam or questionable "Black Hat" techniques. Why take the risk? Remember what I said earlier: people produce the best type of backlinks for you--bookmark quality content, and you will have people bookmarking your site and referring other people to your content.

You have just read an article that categorizedseo tips by title SEO Traffic: Top Social Bookmarking Sites for 2013. You can bookmark this page with a URL https://temp-free.blogspot.com/2013/10/seo-traffic-top-social-bookmarking.html. Thank you!

Written by: Thanh Hoa - Wednesday, October 23, 2013