If you hear of the word bookmark, you associate it with something that helps you remember a page in a book, so you can come back to read it again at a later time. In the case of websites and web pages on the internet, social bookmarking is the practice of saving web pages, in a way tagging them, so you can view and read them again. When you bookmark a page that is constantly updated, like a news page, each time you return to view it, there is something new for you to see.

Are there any advantages to social bookmarking?

The answer is yes! As said before, internet users benefit from social bookmarking as it allows them to come back to sites that they like, or pages that have very useful and relevant content. Also, according to sources, if a site is constructed well, and has very interesting and expertly written content, there is a higher probability that it will be bookmarked.

Think about it. Would you be coming back to a site if it didn't have anything important to say? Such is the motivational factor that drives web surfers to stay within a site, and possibly even purchase items and recommend it to others.

The more times a site is bookmarked, the better it is for Search Engine Optimization. Search engine bots or crawlers are able to index more sites through this. In a way, the number of social bookmarks made can directly affect the page popularity and page rank.

In terms of the frequency of the returns of visitors to your site, it will be ideal if they bookmark your site by subscribing to web feeds. In this way, whenever you make changes or updates, your former visitors will be sure to come back.

Is this what RSS feeds are about?

RSS feeds are only one of the many types of web feeds available. Users who have aggregator programs on their computer are reminded or alerted every time an update is made on any of the sites they bookmarked or have subscribed to web feeds. RSS feeds are a common feature on blogs about political issues, news websites, online magazines, and more. Other examples of methods of social bookmarking through web feeds are Digg, Stumbleupon, Reddit, and more.

How can your website benefit from social bookmarking?

Can you visualize your site with hundreds to thousands of visitors per day, and all of them coming back regularly to check out what's new? You will soon find that the conversion rate of your site visitors to product buyers will be high, and who wouldn't want that? With this method of social bookmarking, you can improve your site's page ranking, since more bookmarks of your site will be made by users.