Social media impacts and influences many aspects of society; from what we wear to where we eat to how we communicate, social media is at the forefront of it all.  Seeing as how social media is an online platform, it makes sense that it would also play a part in digital marketing, and particularly in how a website ranks on Google.  However, if you ask Google if social media influences SEO, they would say “no”.  But considering Google also denies the existence of SEO, it might be worth getting a second opinion.

After doing extensive research, it appears that while social media does not directly influence a website’s SEO, it does have an impact.  Google doesn’t technically allow social media signals to affect rankings, but many savvy business owners have found ways to use social networking to feature their companies high on the SERPs.  The following are some of the most common ways to do this, which also prove the existence of a correlation between SEO and social media.

  1. Companies can rank not only their business websites, but their social media profiles as well.

If you search for a branded keyword on Google like “Best Buy”, you’ll see that their Twitter profile is the second organic listing to show up on the SERPs.

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Next I searched for a local, less-well known company: Peaden Air Conditioning.  The first listing that appeared was for their website, and the second was for their Facebook Page.  This was closely followed by their Yelp listing.  You should definitely spend time optimizing your social media profiles.  Make sure you use a consistent image across all of them, and your logos and branding should be the same (same design, same colors, etc.) You can see in the screenshots from Best Buy that are included in this post that they’ve chosen to use the same logo, color scheme, and similar images throughout Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.  Your biography should be related to your business, and you should also include a link to your website.  If you’re not convinced that you should have a social media profile dedicated to your business, think about this: when someone Googles a keyword related to your business, a page of listings is going to show up. Obviously you want your website and blog to occupy space in those listings, but if that’s all you have to offer than those extra spots are going to be taken by someone, or something, else…namely the websites (and/or social profiles) of your competitors.  Not sure how to grow your social media presence?  Check out this article!

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  1. Social media is a great tool to boost brand awareness.

 

Brand awareness is the way that your target audience and the general public is able to recognize your business.  Social media profiles are a great way to spread your company’s logo, slogans, and more around the Internet (which is another reason why these designs need to be consistent through all your social profiles).  The more you share, the more people who are aware of your brand. The more people who are aware of your brand, the more who will visit your company website.  Increased traffic= increased rankings.

Posting links and valuable content on social media also results in shares, likes, and comments.  These actions drive visitors to official websites, resulting in increased web traffic.

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  1. Social media increases the reach and longevity of your content.

Social media is set up for mass sharing, and all this sharing is what leads to more visibility for your content.  Additionally, content posted on social media will most likely reach more people than if it were just posted on a company blog, and thanks to users sharing it it will be popular for a longer amount of time.  Furthermore, if you only publish a blog post on your business website, it will most likely get lost once newer articles are posted.  Chances are no one is going to scroll through pages and pages of blog posts unless they’re searching for something in particular.  But with social media you have the chance to constantly increase the reach and longevity of a post by reposting it whenever you want.  You can target the audience that sees it by selecting which social media platforms to post on (Instagram generally reaches a younger crowd, LinkedIn a professional one, etc.) and you can keep it fresh and interesting by updating the post and adding new images or videos to compliment it.  It goes without saying that all the content posted and shared on social media should be optimized just like it is when posted on a company blog.  The most shareable content contains keywords, engaging headlines, and a solid call-to-action.  It also doesn’t hurt to add social sharing buttons to content to make it even easier for people to share your posts.

  1. Social media can assist with link building.

When you share links on social media, you open up the possibility for others to share those same links.  And the more shares you get from reputable websites, the higher your rankings will be.  For example, if you share a link to content that’s then re-tweeted by the New York Times, for example, Google sees that a trustworthy and reputable site (NYT) has taken an interest in your website and your content, so that means your business must be reputable and trustworthy as well. Thus, they elevate your rank in the SERPs.  You can increase the chances of this by tagging and giving credit to any one you mention in your posts.  Then they’ll see it and most likely share it with their own audience.  You can also track mentions of your branded keywords and subsequently reach out to the authors to say thank you, and to ask for a link.  This is a great article that explains additional ways you can build links through social media.

So despite Google’s denial of it, social media does impact rankings, albeit not directly.  But if you’re not using your social media presence to improve your company’s rankings, you’re definitely behind your competition who is.  There are an abundance of opportunities to use social media to elevate your company in Google’s SERPs, and these 4 ways are just the beginning.  How have you noticed social media impact your company’s SEO?  Comment in the section below!

Image 1: google.com

Image 2: google.com

Image 3: twitter.com

Image 4: instagram.com

Image 5: facebook.com