In today’s world of the internet, social media needs no introduction. Social media has become an integral part of our daily life as people need it to connect with friends and family, share news, opinions, and knowledge, and for business purposes.
Speaking of business, over 4.4 billion people are internet users. These corporations have established themselves well on the internet through social media such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. Well, how is social media supposed to be related to SEO?
At first glance, it seems they don’t have much in common. But it’s far from the truth. This blog post will explore the relationship between social media and SEO and how it’ll increase your online visibility.
The blog delves into the working of backlinking, domain relevancy, and social presence and provides you with practical tips to integrate social media into your SEO strategy.
How Social Media Affects SEO Rankings?
Social media do not directly impact your search engine rankings. It’s a bummer yes but there’s more to it. Social media affect your search engine in all kinds of indirect ways.
The number of social media shares your content has does not result in a bump in your SEO rankings. According to research by Cognitive SEO back in 2020, it showed no direct connection between social media shares with search engine rankings. Instead, your search engine rankings are benefitted from social media signals.
If your posts gather likes, comments, and views, it’s a social media signal. These signals influence your search engine rankings quite a lot.
| Basically, Google’s Search Engine is like: “Oh looks like this content is more relevant than the other content with the same keywords as it has more likes on Instagram. Let’s bump that up” |
So if your business has established itself well in social media, it’s likely to place higher in search engine result pages (SERPs).
If a business can share its content on social media, it’ll reach out to more people and gather more social media signals.
By following internet practices such as using hashtags, and keeping up with current trends you will stand out among competitors.
An example of a SERP for “search engine optimization” with a knowledge panel on the right.
Social media also help raise your brand awareness, reputation, and authority on the web. The more people you reach out to, the more online visibility you naturally have.
In conclusion, a like on Facebook from a random customer isn’t as credible as a backline from a reputable site but still valuable enough for search engine bots to consider.
Best Practices for Social Media and SEO Integration
Whatever you do, the first rule for showing a green flag for search engines is high-quality content. Good quality content is engaging and informative. That way users can attract more followers, and social media signals and ultimately improve search engine rankings.
A business should always integrate a ‘share’ option in its website. This way customers/users can share your site with other people. We discussed shares had nothing to do with rankings but the more people you reach out to, the more people that come to check you out.
Businesses should also include links to their websites in their social media posts and advertisements. It’ll drive more people to your website and also improve the domain authority. Domain authority is a way search engines evaluate your site for credibility and reliability.
It’s ranked on a scale of 1-100. The higher the number, the more likely your content appear in front of the SERPs. Backlinking like this is a great way to improve your domain authority.
Make sure to include hashtags, or relate your content to the current trends to make sure the social media algorithm catches up to your posts.
Additionally, if you have to share content that has video involved, it’s best to add subtitles to it. Subtitles help users understand your content much more clearly.
Secondly, If you are anywhere younger than a boomer then you’re familiar with the term “memes”. Memes come in the form of multimedia that express humor or convey a message. These types of pictures and videos are a great way for exposure on the internet.
GenZ humor is difficult to understand as a millennial or a boomer but if businesses can understand what makes them crack, they are sure to have high engagement numbers. As customers are shifting to the latest generation, it’s essential to know how to market yourself.
A great example of engagement and exposure is TikTok. Huge corporations and companies have different approaches to advertising on TikTok than traditional informative ads. Such companies are but are not limited to
These companies are not focused on direct advertisement but just seem to be having fun. And that’s how they go viral and reach out to millions with a single 30-second clip. Why pay for an advertisement if you can get engagement just like that?
Measuring the Impact of Social Media on SEO
Always keep track of your analytics. Make note of user interactions, likes, views, shares, and other useful analytics that help you plan your next posts. Optimizing your content by keeping track of your engagement metrics helps generate content for your business more easily.
Google Analytics is a free-to-use tool from Google that helps business owners keep track of their social media metrics. It has features such as pinpointing the source of traffic, user demographics, conversions, engagement, and other useful tools.
By making sure you know how much your social media impacts your conversions, you can prepare accordingly.
To wrap things up, social media plays a huge role in your SEO rankings although indirectly. If you still do not have social media accounts for your business, you should start right away. Incorporating such a strategy into your business is sure to improve your online visibility by quite a lot.
Brand visibility helps in attracting more potential customers. Social media algorithms have made it a lot easier for users to find your business nowadays. All you need is to follow proper social media practices such as using hashtags and trendy uploads.
The more people see your post, the more social interaction it has. The more social signals, the more credibility your site gets. It’s like a backlink but from customers.
