Is social media really critical in improving your site’s ranking? There are some SEOs that say yes and some say no. However, we’ve found that social media does play a role in improving the ranking of a website along with other factors. However, while the term “social media” and “rankings” are thrown around often, many gurus fail to tell you just how social media improves your rankings.
Here’s 4 ways social media does improve a site’s ranking factor:
1. INCREASES YOUR REACH TO GAIN MORE OF AN AUDIENCE
When you’re on social media, you reach new audiences that you may not have through just having a website. Those who are not aware of your services and products can find you on Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In when they may not in search.
As you increase your audience size, you can keep them engaged on these sites with blog posts and other posts. Sometimes the posts themselves are found in the search engine as a result. The frequent interactions also come up under a site when the brand name or main CEO is searched.
2. THE LINKS YOU POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTES INBOUND LINKS.
Social media is a broadcast channel where you can gain traffic as soon as you post a link. When you present links that lead to content that is within your audience’s interests, you keep them engaged.
The frequent interaction on a social network sends signals to the search engines that your website is active and producing content. It also means that your site is keeping your customers and potential customers engaged with information. Posting links on Facebook and other sites helps to get traffic to your site and lets Google know your site is being frequently visited.
3. CREATES SEARCHABLE POSTS.
Not only do sites have internal search engines where people can find your content using hashtags and keywords, but posts also come up in the search engines.
- Content and images on Pinterest often show up in Google Images.
- Facebook posts come up in search depending on the keyword used in the search engine.
- Twitter posts often come up under a brand name as a suggestion for searchers to follow them when they search for the information in Google.
4. CREATES A SOCIAL REPUTATION
The type of content expresses what your brand is about. If you’re silent on social media, people are not going to know what your brand stands for… which is why Google looks at social media to increase rankings. If you’re more transparent on social media, then your ranking increases because others will then also know what your brand values and presents.
Having accounts on social media for your brand also communicates that your business is real. There are so many different fake, fly-by-night companies and individuals who create a website or page to sell something, but are not creating a business where they would actually serve customers. Instead, Google looks at social signals to make sure businesses are continually managing their reputation and communicating with customers.
Social media is like a “vote” for the best businesses who engage customers and get traffic to their site by using these channels. Google and other search engines use these metrics in their ranking algorithms because they say the business is engaged and active.
