Neil Patel and Todd Malicoat know a thing or two about Digg. As active members of the Digg community (in addition to their roles as leading SEO consultants) they’re afforded a unique perspective on the market. Having recently met with Neil and Todd at Search Engine Strategies, WebProNews had the chance to sling some burning questions.
How can businesses take advantage of Digg; if at all? For those already in the game, what’s being done correctly? Incorrectly?
Like search engines, Digg is controlled by custom algorithms. Hailed as “user driven social content,” its front page is (theoretically) populated with the most newsworthy of submissions; those having been “dugg up” by the community. In its purest form, manipulation of this system would be easy; hence provisions to control black hat hooligans and spammy shenanigans.
On your quest to reach the front page, Advantage Consulting’s CTO, Neil Patel suggests avoiding “crews” or “circles” for reciprocal “digging.”
“I think, right now, what a lot of people are doing wrong is that they’re joining Digg crews, or groups. They [the algorithms] can notice patterns. If the same people are digging each others stories it’s not going to be as effective. [By doing this] instead of needing (let’s say) 30 votes to get to the front page, you might need 50…”
Stuntdubl.com guru, Todd Malicoat is quick to point out apparent sophistication in Digg’s algorithms… offering our key to success.
“It’s really fascinating to see how quickly the digg algorithm is evolving compared to search engines in the past. They’ve really caught on to a lot of the things that took Google, Yahoo and MSN a long time to catch on to… Just within the social spheres… they’ve identified what’s natural and caught on to that a lot quicker.”
Natural, eh? Founded on ideals of democracy, Digg owes it to their users to remain as natural (or seemingly natural) as possible. In short, just like SEO, it’s all about visibility rather than manipulation (on the white hat side, of course).
Patel’s closing advice urges us to consider why one might possibly get to Digg’s front page. It’s as simple as supply and demand…. yet, like many other aspects of social media, some get it terribly wrong.
“They’re taking their website and services and trying to get them all on Digg… submitting everything… they’re trying to monetize on it instead of saying, ‘how can I benefit the Digg community?’”
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22 users commented in " The “Dos” and “Don’ts” of Digg "
[…] If you haven’t seen the videos on Webpronews, now is a good time to check them out. The fellas over at WPN have done a real nice job creating some very professional looking videos. I did a video with Mike McDonald, and Neil Patel of ProNet Advertising on the do’s and don’ts of Digg, future of social media, and some tips on how to choose an SEO company or consultant. It even almost looks like I know what I’m talking about! Check out the video here. I love Social Media! - Votes are noticed and appreciated:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
[…] Read full entry […]
Nice video presentation - I’m digging it
You fellas clean up real nice….
[…] http://videos.webpronews.com/2007/01/05/the-dos-and-donts-of-digg/ […]
[…] Bei WebProNews hab ich ein interessantes Video zu Digg gefunden. Neil Patel und Todd Mailcoat sind aktive Mitglieder bei Digg und plaudern bei der SES über die “do´s” und “don´ts” bei Digg, sowie über die Zukunft von Social Media Diensten. […]
Great stuff Mike, blogrolled
[…] WebProNews has posted another great video interview, this time with Todd Malicoat and Neil Patel. In this interview, Mike McDonald of WPN discusses social media optimization and digg with Todd and Neil who presented on a SMO session at SES Chicago. […]
[…] This link here entitled the do’s and dont’s of Digg is a great discussion on doing well in Digg as well as things to avoid. Its also a good general discussion around social media, tips for choosing an SEO, PPC and arbitrage, the future of search,  trends in the industry  and a few other related topics. […]
[…] According to SEO Todd Mailcoat, getting three stories to the homepage of Digg puts you in the top 1% of Digg users, and it takes “months” to build up a what Todd calls a “reputable” Digg account. Those statistics struck me as stunning, so I decided to dig into Digg’s top user data (which loads painfully slow, as if Digg want to discourage people from digging around.) […]
Great video and great comments. There guys sure know what they are talking about. Interesting comments at the end about what’s in store for the future. Seems like WebProNews Video Blog is on the right track, good going guys!
where’s my video camera…
[…] Digg Dos and Donts Related tags:digg neil patel todd mailcoatWebProNews has a great video up with Neil Patel and Todd Mailcoat talking about Digg. Hattip Nick Wilson. […]
[…] Jan 8, 2007 in Uncategorized From Scott Karp at Publishing 2.0, quoting our good friend Todd Malicoat, via WPN- […]
[…] The Do’s and Don’ts of Digg January 8, 2007 Filed under: videos, seo, digg, social media, smo ethics — postergirl @ 10:09 pm Grr! I can’t get this video to embed, so if you’re curious you can check out The Do’s And Dont’s of Digg at Web Pro News. […]
[…] Neil Patel and Todd Mailcoat know a thing or two about Digg. As active members of the Digg community in addition to their roles as leading SEO consultants, they’re also afforded a unique perspective.read more | digg story Business Broker […]
[…] Check out the Video Here Business Broker […]
One of my friends got banned on Digg for digging all his cousin’s stuff. Digg is really meant for cool stuff, cool news, cool tutorials and such. Digg is working on ways to combat “gaming the system” and spamming.
[…] Here Todd Malicoat and Neil Patel talk about Digg. Looks like Todd was slow to adopt Digg as a useful form of branding but he has been converted. […]
[…] The “Dos†and “Don’ts†of Digg - WebProNews Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
[…] It’s a pretty universal truth in the industry that Todd and Neil are two very highly regarded experts on Digg. I’ve taken the liberty to write a little about what they’ve discussed in a recent WebProNews video interview about how Digg should be leveraged as a community tool with my own feedback. […]
Sorry for the “me too” comment, but that was a great interview and wrap up. Well Done!
[…] I also love this video of Todd Malicoat and Neil Patel — while you can BS people in writing, it’s much harder to do so in video. Neil and Todd come across as very straight shooters (and very smart, of course), and they really seem to understand the PR channel they are working. […]
I found the later discussion of taking on competing clients for SEO to be very interesting. I’ve never been to any of these shows so I don’t get much chance to talk to other consultants. Nice to see others with similar views to mine.
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