Online marketers have been asking me about Twitter’s role in search engine ranking for awhile now.  The following should clear up some misconceptions as well as give you some easy steps you can take to better optimize your twitter activity.

1. username and account name

Your username, or handle, should be relevant to your brand, campaign and/or company name.  Your followers should be able to recall it quickly since its attached to the end of twitter urls, e.g. twitter.com/yoursite.  Your account appears next to your profile which can be the same or different from your username.  Choose an account name that promotes you, your company or your brand.

2. Bio information

Make it count!  However, there are two schools of thought here.  One strategy is to include only the most relevant keyword-rich content you can script within the allotted 160 characters.  This will enhance indexing due to its core relevance.  We’re seeing other marketers take a different route by writing more personal, down-to-earth or humorous descriptions as a means of connecting instead of blatant selling through keyword overload

3. Your “Retweetability”

Always be mindful of the 140 character limit for all tweets, including your intial tweets and the potential retweets from your followers.  Truly viral tweets which proliferate through several social circles are often short enough to facilitate multiple retweets.  A good rule of thumb is to further limit your tweet lengths to 120 characters.

4. Tweeting

Carefully select the initial characters of each tweet.  We’re learning more that the “lead-in” of each message tends to carry more significance to search engines as it will dictate the tweet’s title tag in a Google search result.  Roughly 40 characters factor into each tweet’s title tag, which includes the account name and a tweet’s initial characters.  You also Want to have keyword-rich tweets whenever possible.  While the reason behind this is intuitive, you still need to balance keyword density with normal conversational jargon which offers value and adds personality.

5. Spread the word

Aim to distribute your twitter profile url as widely as possible.  You could integrate it into your press release or blogs by placing a call to action following your post.  I know other marketers who place it in their Global Footers which appears below every page of their site.  Both of these offer good linking back to twitter.  Using a url shortening service, such as Bit.ly or Tr.im, allows you to use multiple shortened links all which lead to your Twitter page.  The added tracking capability can pinpoint what sources are driving the most traffic back to your Twitter page.