Obviously, the term social media is not new to you, and more than likely, neither is SEO. But what about social SEO? What is it? How do I do it? Can social media impacted my SEO? And vice versa.
This article will answer all of the above, and then some. We'll also go into how one can impact the other, as well as tips for improving both.
The role that social media plays in your digital marketing strategy is massive. Many small brands have become overnight viral sensations because of one really good TikTok marketing campaign, for example. However, many might not understand the effects social media has on SEO.
In this article:
- What is Social SEO?
- What is the impact of Social Media on SEO?
- 6 Ways SEO and Social Media Affect Each Other
- Tips for Using Social Media to Improve SEO
What is Social SEO?
Social SEO is the process of optimizing your website and social media content to increase its visibility in search engines.
Specifically, it is the practice of using social media to improve the search engine ranking of your website. It's done by increasing brand awareness and visibility, generating backlinks, and improving social signals.
It includes using relevant keywords in your social media posts, creating shareable content, and building relationships with other users. But, let's dig a bit deeper.
What is the Impact of Social Media on SEO?
Although social media may not affect SEO directly, the two still coincide when used efficiently. They can be profitable when you execute them correctly in your business.
As an enterprise, it is vital to optimize your SEO strategy along with social media SEO. Overlooking this can be a missed opportunity to have stronger engagements and conversations.
For instance, you can use a strong YouTube SEO that includes tags, keywords, and links to your website.
However, if the website has poor loading speed or does not have a proper structure, users will lose interest and maybe trust in your business.
They may even abandon your site, which will not positively affect your Search engine rankings.
Just like high-quality links boost your domain’s SEO score, social media links can have a similar impact.
The higher the number of links you get from your creative and unique content, the bigger the increase in the awareness of your brand because you can reach a larger online audience.
6 Ways SEO and Social Media Affect Each Other
1. Active social pages boosts organic traffic.
A business should not have social accounts for the sake of it. The social account should be active and frequently social. The account must dominate in tracking the popular keywords and following trendy topics that you can implement on your posts.
When your engagements and activities are consistent, you get rewarded through better search rankings. This is because you are establishing trustworthiness and building a recognizable brand.
Besides being a technical asset of your business’s SEO, social media involves actual people you can engage with.
Therefore, if you produce disingenuous and robotic content, you are less likely to gain any followers.
Your online presence ought to have an opinion, personality, and friendly spirit that your friends can share and engage with.
2. Search engines index social media content.
Do you post quality content frequently? Ensure to post high-quality content that has well-researched keywords regularly. It makes search engine spiders likely to find and index your content.
If people share your social media posts faster than the content on your website, the spiders will probably index them quicker. This is one of the greatest benefits of social SEO.
When your social media content is indexed, it affects your performance in digital marketing. However, your content must have relevance to what the searchers want.
It should also show opinions that can establish Expert-Experience-Authority-Trust (E-E-A-T) and have hashtags, images, and GIFs that can help have more appearance on prospective clients’ feeds.
3. SEO increases social content outreach.
When you share your content on many platforms, there is a higher likelihood that your target audience will grow. Thus, there is a bigger chance of gaining valuable backlinks. Many people today rely on social media for information, social interaction, and entertainment.
Therefore, it is easier to find an Instagram post than a web post. Ensure that you update your social media platforms with useful content that can effectively and efficiently direct users to your website.
Through this, your online visibility grows at a higher rate than you may have thought.
4. Social profiles also rank in search results.
Authoritative and active profiles on social media can rank well on search engines like your website if the user has branded search terms.
Branded search is when a person searches for your brand or company using the name directly. It means they are already interested in seeing what your brand can offer them.
If the user already knows my brand and is searching it by name, why should I display my social media platform on the search engine?
The quick answer is this is a valuable marketing strategy. It gives a different perspective of your brand than your website. It also offers some additional information to those who need more incentive to buy into your brand.
5. It offers long-lasting visibility.
As they say, “Social media posts last forever.” It may seem daunting to many, but it benefits your blog post. When you upload your content on social media, you keep your content visible so long as your content’s topic remains newsworthy.
For instance, if you created a quality post on YouTube on “how to cook pork,” people will want to know how to cook pork. Thanks to social media, when a person searches for a keyword or phrase, they will view and share your video.
6. Links on social media serve as a traffic funnel.
Have you ever considered the net effect of an increase in social shares that results in more traffic? What about adding a social feed to your website?
While social shares may have a minor effect on the SERPs, individual content pieces on social media, like hashtags and links, can significantly drive new visitors.
Active brands on social media have a better potential to build passive or active backlinks. Consistent content publishing means more brand visibility.
With such visibility, you can make connections and relationships with people that may convert later. Your social activity can be an information resource that you can use to influence your on-site content strategy.
Tips for Using Social Media to Improve SEO
- Share high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience.
- Use relevant keywords in your social media posts.
- Promote your social media posts on other channels, such as email and your website.
- Respond to all comments and questions.
- Run social media contests and giveaways.
- Use social media analytics tools to track your results and optimize your strategy.
Conclusion
Social media channels are critical drivers of brand visibility on the internet. Therefore, you must consider what you post, when you post it, and what campaigns you want to run.
They can help drive traffic to your site, improve conversion rates, and increase people's trust in your brand.
Social media can improve your ranking on search engines through the various methods we have discussed above.
It's also important to note the current effect AI is having on social media, and how it is going to change everything we thought we knew.
Curious to know your thoughts! Let us know in the comments 😁
