Does it feel like your digital marketing and SEO strategy is lacking in some way?
You might be missing the impact of social media. Social media for SEO is one of the most important ways to grow your brand and attract new customers. But if you haven’t prioritized your social media SEO approach, you’re missing out on all that potential business.
In this guide, we’ll show you why social media needs to be integrated into your digital marketing strategy. Read on to learn how social media affects SEO.
The Impact of Social Media
When social media first hit the scene, no one knew how influential it would become (except, maybe, the inventors and early investors). Today, social media giants like Facebook and Twitter almost seem to run the world.
Social media is an important part of digital marketing, but the relationship between social media and SEO is complicated.
Google has made statements about how it uses social media to rank websites – but those statements often seem to contradict each other. At times, Google has stated that social media pages are indexed like any other web page, which makes social links count just like any other link.
However, Google has also said that social media doesn’t count as a direct ranking factor. Google is the biggest search engine that SEO tactics have to impress, but it’s also the one that’s least forthcoming about its strategies.
There seems to be a correlation between social media and Google’s ranking, but is it a causation? Hard to say.
Even if social media doesn’t directly influence search engine rankings, the impact of social media is still there. Whether or not social media links count in the same way as other links, for example, social media can help improve ranking signals that search engines look for. Social media can also help change the search engine results pages (SERPS) in your favor.
A good SEO strategy is integrated and thorough, and incorporates social media strategically. Let’s take a closer look at the specific ways social media for SEO can help.
1. Gaining Links
Link earning specifically refers to the ability of one piece of content to garner multiple links.
Most of the time, guest posting is used to earn one link at a time. This method can be effective, but slow.
Link earning takes things to the next level. But if your site doesn’t have tons of visitors yet, you don’t have the potential to earn that many links that fast.
Social media, however, can change that.
Social media sites offer hundreds of new contacts at the click of a button. With these platforms, your content can immediately reach hundreds or thousands of followers. And the more people interact with your content by sharing, commenting, or otherwise engaging, the more people will see it.
Every brand shoots for viral content, but even if you don’t get millions of hits, you can still get the benefits of a well-shared piece. It’s all about posting quality content regularly, rather than trying to predict what will go viral.
When your high-quality content reaches the right audience, those shares can result in links back to you. This affects your rankings in the search engines for the better.
2. Staying Front of Mind
Having a number of social media platforms where your customers can see your posts helps keep your brand “front of mind” for them. This can lead them to mention your brand more often, as well as seek out your products and services over others’.
3. Building Brand Authority
Along with the front-of-mind effect comes brand authority – if you approach social media for SEO the right way.
Today’s customers are cautious about false information, but you can overcome their wariness with brand authority. Posting relevant, useful content about your product keeps them invested and builds trust.
Of course, you can also use social media to lead them back to your website, where you can offer even more brand authority through blog posts. A great website is critical – if you don’t have one yet, hire a service like Earth Web Technologies to help you build one.
Harnessing the Power of Social Media for SEO
As you can see, there are a number of ways that the impact of social media helps your search engine rankings. Let’s look at a few ways to boost that impact even further.
1. Gain More Followers
The effectiveness of social media for SEO depends on how many followers you have. The more followers, the more chances to get your ranking boosted.
However, fake followers won’t cut it – Google can tell. You need real people who are invested in your product or service to interact with your brand on social media. Gaining followers takes a while, but if you stick with it, you’ll see results.
Maintain a consistent voice across your posts. Be helpful and relevant and engage with your followers directly.
2. Optimize for Location
Local optimization is big in the SEO world now, and social media offers the perfect place to optimize for location. You can interact with your local community, which will boost your location-specific SEO signals. Interacting with other local brands and hosting or attending local events can also help improve your search engine rankings.
Whenever your company is involved in something local, make sure to get some quality photos and post about it to keep engagement going.
3. Build Brand Awareness
The more people know about and think about your brand, the more they’ll search for it on Google. These branded searches go a long way toward boosting your rankings.
This goes back to the idea of staying “front of mind.” Although social media brand awareness doesn’t directly affect your Google rankings, the indirect effects are powerful.
Start Using Social Media for SEO Today
Social media and SEO may not have perfectly clear, direct ties, but the links are still there – both literally and figuratively. Don’t you want to use them to your advantage?
The impact of social media can’t be denied. Building a great social media campaign is part of a healthy SEO strategy.
Looking for more ways to boost your rankings? Check out our 15-minute SEO checklist here.