“Infographics were so last year.” Nonsense

Guest post by Mark Fleming – Manages SEO at Kuoni

Ahh the infographic, beautifully modern in its conception but are we over-subscribed? Does Google hate them? And more importantly should we care?

A while back I attended an excellent digital marketing conference which will go nameless (hint - it’s in Brighton and it’s about SEO!). Between keynotes I was ‘working the room’ (standing around having a drink) and overheard some SEO folk discussing infographics.

The SEO bods concerned were chatting about those they had seen and produced, when one of the group exclaimed “infographics were so last year”. I know it was a serious remark as I earwigged the rest of the conversation – that’s ‘networking’ right!?! But seriously, this comment really resonated with me, there was more to this comment.

I should probably go back a step as some of you may be shouting at the screen exclaiming “what the hell is an infographic?”. Simply, it is some information portrayed in the form of a graphic, also known as (WARNING: buzz word) ‘data visualisation’. If you spend any time online, you have most definitely seen one, even if you don’t know the jargon.

Infographics have seen an evolution in advancement from static graphics to animated offerings, and we now see them modernising the feel of printed media, too. But is this volume and duration of exposure a reason not to use them? In short, no.

There are stirrings that Google may discount infographic links, but this shouldn’t halt you either. You shouldn’t be producing an infographic to solely gain links (really!). If the content is of a good quality standard and engaging enough it will gain links, but you should be concentrating on spreading your message through the best possible medium. As a tip Google will probably be looking at social signals and the amount of pick-up your offering receives so, as with all content, make it as good as you possibly can.

So where does this leave us?

- If you have the skills and/or budget create something people will love. Some of these animated offerings are getting exceptional pick-up and being hugely shared, but that’s not to say a static infographic won’t still work.

- The Google-infographics talk continues, but I feel they will be focusing on devaluing poor quality content that isn’t gaining traction through social and other sites, however one to keep an eye on.

- If you have some data, an idea and the creativity to produce something engaging which offers insight to your audience, produce it, engage with your market, let people talk and share it.

Finally I wanted to raise two points before its back to the day job for you;

1. Always use the best medium to convey your message, don’t fear being unfashionable!

2. Never be so busy looking at the next medium to convey your message that you overlook the perfect medium which is here now.

Oh one last thing, should you wish to make deliciously engaging infographics but don’t have a designer or budget check out this site http://infogr.am/ where you can make your own, I would however suggest you remember there are a lot of infographics out there and for yours to work it needs to be better than the others! Quality over quantity my friends.

Mark can be found on Twitter at @MarkFlemingSEO