How Social Media Activity Impacts SEO

While there are many ways to enhance the SEO of your website, it is important to note that social signals are an important piece of the puzzle. However, some business owners are under the assumption that the more page “Likes” and “Followers” they get on social media, the better SEO success they will achieve as a result. If you have 400,000 followers on Google+, Twitter or Facebook, that must mean you are well-known to the search engines, right? Not exactly; while studies have shown a correlation between higher search rankings and page activity, they may not be directly related. A Google employee, Matt Cutts, made a statement saying, “…you have this many followers on Twitter or this many likes on Facebook, to the best of my knowledge, we don’t currently have any signals like that in our web search ranking algorithms.” In other words, just because you have thousands of page Likes and Twitter followers does not mean your website will rank higher on Google searches. Social Content is Powerful It’s all about valuable, quality content. SEO has changed in the past few years; today, human-friendly content rules the world of SEO. Since social media is mostly about posting and sharing great content, it definitely enhances your SEO efforts. Content that is shared often across social media is viewed as “quality information” by “credible sources” that should be ranked accordingly. As a result, it is indexed and can show up in the search results. Social Media is the New Link Juice Having quality links back to your website is one way to strengthen any SEO. Gone are the days when we could just buy a bunch of backlinks from random sources; the search engines got smart and decided that any old backlink won’t cut it. Socials signals from sites such as Twitter, Google+, and Facebook are powerful, credible backlinks to your website that will definitely contribute to your overall SEO efforts. Social Engagement Matters If you use sites such as Google+, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to share links and other connections to your website, chances are better that more people will check it out and talk about it. Once people are talking about something, sharing links, and posting about the content, social signals kick up a notch. Speaking of Google+… obviously, this is Google’s favorite social media platform. Therefore, being consistent and active there is a surefire way to boost SEO. Social Media Profiles Rank in Search Engines Social media profiles also rank in the search engines, which is a great way for additional exposure. If you do a search for any company’s brand name, they’re social media profiles are likely to show up in the results. In conclusion, social media definitely plays a huge role in your search engine rankings. While there is no definite outline on how it all works together, it is a fact that social media is a valuable addition to your marketing efforts. Focus on consistent engagement and creating great, shareable content and you’re on your way.