By now, you might know that most of the good social bookmarking sites put nofollow commands on the links, which means that these are not useful for SEO (search engine optimization) strategies. So, you may rightly wonder if having a social bookmarking strategy is not helpful in getting to the top of Google. Are social bookmarking useless for SEO? Happily, the answer is no.

First, widespread exposure to your content on large sites can make it stand out on other smaller sites that follow links. By having your work exposed in prestigious sites, you gain prestige. Indirectly, this means links because people will not only read your current work, but they will also be more likely to read your future work if you become a respected voice in your niche.

Second, there are a number of useful social bookmarks for SEO sites that return tracking links. These websites are smaller in size and seem to come and go a lot, so while they aren’t great in the long run, they are useful for a one-off boost. Keep in mind that they won’t send you much traffic, but they will provide you with a backlink to your site – no more, no less.

But there is a more important factor to take into account and that has to do with SEO and its dangers. A recent change to Google’s algorithm left thousands of businesses in the US reeling when they suddenly discovered that they had dropped entire pages in their Google rankings. They had gone from earning a living to earning next to nothing in a single day. Social bookmarking can protect you against this. If you share useful and important content on delicious or any other site, and your business is good, you can ‘transfer’ a part of the community to your site and convert them into regular customers. In this way, you will not only see an increase in revenue, but you will also protect your business against these sudden changes in the Google algorithm.

In conclusion, social bookmarking for SEO is mostly a roundabout process, but a useful one as long as you remember that content is still king and you work with patience. Spending less than an hour a day, every day! – by engaging users and attracting them to your site, you will see strong long-term results that will generate many positive aspects for your business, making it more robust against the unforeseen changes that Google brings.

I know, I just said that content is king and some SEOs may be wringing their hands. But that’s the whole point of a good social bookmarking strategy for SEO (aside from engagement): sharing great content and getting it noticed by lots of other users and websites.