The one thing that people who have blogs want is to appear on the first page of Google search results. I can go on about countless SEO strategies which you probably know by heart already, but there is one tactic that actually works. It involves sending social signals to your site through mentions and retweets. When you apply this technique on your blog, you’ll see a lot of improvements, including:

• More social engagement specifically retweets and likes.
• More blog comments.
• Better readability and user experience.
• Improved SEO signals like time-on-page and bounce rates.

These improvements to your blog will result in every website’s goal of doing better in search results since all retweets, likes, and mentions only have one destination, and that’s your blog. To make this Twitter mentions technique work, you need a Twitter account (of course), and a click to tweet plugin like Social Warfare. 

Any click to tweet plugin will do, but I find Social Welfare light and it doesn’t mess up a website’s appearance, especially when your site is AMP-based. 

What are Twitter mentions?

Simply put, Twitter mentions are when people mention you on Twitter using the @ sign. When someone mentions you, you’ll receive a notification and you can respond to the tweet and comment immediately so that the conversation starts rolling.

Image: Twitter mentions. Photo taken from mention

Twitter mentions work because they are signs that people are talking about you and your blog. What’s even more exciting is that the mention is included when people retweet the original post. You will still get notified when this happens and it’s a great opportunity to reach out to people who aren’t your followers yet. Your engagement will grow, you’ll have the chance to gain more followers, and since the original tweet has a link to your article, you will also have more blog visitors. 

How does this Twitter mentions technique work?

This tactic requires you to create click to tweet content on your blog, which are ready-made tweets that readers can share. With Twitter increasing the character length of tweets to 280 (from 140), you can include hashtags and mention multiple people in one ready-made tweet. The tweet should also include a link to the article, and you can use a link shortener tool to save space.

When a reader clicks on the “click to tweet” balloon, a popup window will appear where they need to enter their Twitter login details if they aren’t logged in yet.

Image; Twitter mentions creates conversation. Photo was taken from Hogewash

You may also mention other Twitter users who would appreciate the gesture. This will multiply the effect of the technique as these people will surely engage with the tweet and retweet it. Don’t add random people though because you may end up looking like a spammer. 

Twitter mentions and clicks to tweet combo

This tactic is all about reaching out to your network and their networks too. When someone clicks on the click to tweet icon, the ready-made tweet appears on Twitter mentioning you. Every single time, you have the opportunity to respond and engage with these people, amplifying the effect of one simple technique.

You might even get a high-quality comment on your blog because of the Twitter mentions tactic. Make sure you respond to the comment in a timely manner and ask the user to follow you on Twitter.