slideshareI just had an interesting experience. I was Googling myself (dirty) and found that my Slideshare profile had shot up to the top of the rankings. It overtook all of my various profiles, websites, blogs, etc. Basically, Slideshare just one-up’d Squidoo, EzineArticles, Myspace, Twitter, Wordpress.com, and others.

Here’s the kicker – I set up my Slideshare.net account one week ago. It has one presentation uploaded (which was done for a graduate class). And I haven’t friended, commented, or taken part in any of the community behaviors they allow on their site. So I did a little investigation to see if others were experiencing the same thing.

I found this interesting article about Slideshare and SEO: http://www.socialseo.com/leveraging-slideshare-to-gain-rank-in-the-search-engines.html

From this little tiny case study, I’ve gleaned two hypotheses:

  1. Slideshare.net can earn quick Google rankings.
  2. Google likes Slideshare better than other sites, like Squidoo or Twitter.

Sure, those two ideas are related. If Google likes you, they rank you better. But I want to separate them because they should be investigated separately.

First, Slideshare seems to get quick Google rankings. This can be tested in a simple way. Create a few Slideshare accounts or presentations for specific keywords, send them on their way. Then watch and see how/when they rank in Google. Try keywords with varying amounts of competition. Obviously, my name (Reuben Rock) doesn’t have a ton of competition. So maybe Slideshare won’t get great rankings for keywords like make money, start a business, get pregnant, etc.

Next, Google seems to like Slideshare better than other sites. This can be tested by creating a Slideshare page and a page with another site, then coming back later to check their rankings. Yada yada yada… More importantly, why would Google like Slideshare better? Let’s think about it…

  • Slideshare hosts slideshow presentations. It attracts academicians, professionals, and other educated people with something valuable to offer. That’s a heck of a step up from Ezinearticles, where any jackass can and does publish slop.
  • These presentations are valuable and dynamic content for users to access. It isn’t a quick blurb about Topic A. It’s an interactive medium. People click through slides, learning as they go. It encourages CLICKS on every page. With a site like Squidoo, a visitor will scroll through it quickly and then hit the back button. Maybe they will click one link. Slideshare gets people clicking multiple times on one page. Then they will look at other slideshows from the same author.

What does it all mean? For the time being, Google seems to like Slideshare and gives them a nice pat on the back (in the form of rankings).

Should you be using Slideshare to get keyword rankings? Only if you have something valuable to say. Post crap, and people won’t read it or look through your slideshow. Quality is everything, as usual.

Hope that gets your gears turning!

Reuben D. Rock

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