The search industry is always abuzz about how social media can influence SEO. Social media SEO refers to how social media activities can boost your website’s organic traffic through search engines. It’s a topic that never gets old.

The reason being simple: social media is important for SEO in more than one way. It not only makes your SEO activities effective but also lucrative. Yes, social media and SEO might look different, but there’s no doubt that they help each other.

However, contrary to popular belief, social media doesn’t directly contribute to SEO. In other words, social signals don’t directly help rank better. The links that you share on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest may help your brand get more exposure, but they aren’t seen by Google as a ranking signal.

Now, here’s the thing: even though social media is not a ranking factor on a superficial level, it has significance if you look deeper. Indirectly, it does have a positive effect on a page’s ranking. So yes, there is a definite correlation between a site’s position in the SERPs and the number of social signals it has.

• How Does Social Media Affect SEO Result?
• What is the Relationship Between SEO and Social Media?
• What are Social Media Marketing Services?
• Best Social Media Marketing Tips
• Why Social Media is Good for Marketing?

How Does Social Media Affect SEO Result?

Social media does not directly contribute to SEO ranking, but the links you share across social platforms increase brand exposure. They add up and influence search engine optimization in six directions:

1. Extensive content distribution
2. Longer lifespan of your posts
3. Improve online visibility and organic traffic
4. Increase brand recognition.
5. Enhance brand reputation
6. Boosts local search engine optimization (SEO)

Your shares across social media sites have no place in SEO rankings. Still, when more people share your content throughout social media, it generates social signals that indicate your posts are useful to your target market.

Read Also: Role of Social Media in Digital Marketing to generate leads

Research by CognitiveSEO made some exciting findings. After analyzing 23 million social media shares on selected platforms, they discovered an equivocal link between social shares and SEO. The shares, likes, and comments your posts receive are vital signals which Google and other search engines use to rank your website.

However, although the links are helpful, Google doesn’t count them as it would a link from other authority sites. Despite that, you agree that the best ranking pages on SERP are often those with more social shares.

In describing how social media impacts SEO, Life Marketing notes that social media does not have a direct influence on SEO. But it indirectly has a positive effect on search ranking.

Why is social media important for SEO? Since social media indirectly influences the factors that impact search rankings, it is important because it has the potential to drive quality web traffic to your blog. 

When you create and publish quality materials that connect with your target readers, they become advocates. Why? Because you offer them something of value. It means that your audience will read and share the articles with their friends and followers.

Their followers will do the same, and the circle continues. Keep in mind that content writing/creation is a fantastic way to attract more eyes to your site. Content can be in any format, as long as it engages your audience. Some types of content that drive traffic and social shares are:

• Blog posts
• Videos
• Infographics
• Podcasts

These materials offer your marketing persona useful information that makes them keep coming back and ultimately drive leads. That is content marketing — sharing valuable data that helps the reader. But you will make no significant impact if you don’t distribute them properly. 

That is where social media comes into the picture. So when you share your posts, your audience amplifies your content by sharing it further. In this way, you increase visibility, improve traffic, and generate backlinks.

Here are some SEO social media marketing pointers to consider, on how social affects SEO:

• Post useful materials on social media.
• Useful materials will help you gain traction, increase your content reach, and generate backlinks.
• Better info helps social media profiles rank in search results and gain traction (grow your followers and drive traffic).
• Quality helps build your brand community.
• You also enhance brand reputation.
• Links from social can help Google with indexation your blog/posts.
• Indexation can lead to more search traffic and improved rankings. 

So, you need to start sharing content that engages your audience because it helps boost social shares. Also, make it effortless for people to share your posts to strengthen those signals.

What is the Relationship Between SEO and Social Media?

It begins with content marketing. Content marketing is about enticing, informing, and entertaining your audience; social media is about promoting your content. And SEO is about making sure that your digital activity improves your search engine ranking.  All three work together toward achieving relevance for your audience.

High-quality content is content that is:

• Client-centric
• Provides guidance/value
• Non-promotional
• Free of jargon
• Shareable and presentable

Producing high-quality content is the only way to achieve the benefits of high-ranking SEO. There are tons of new content being produced each minute of the day.  Google’s job is to crawl the vast Web and create an index so that we know where to find things when we’re searching for it.

This process is a tedious one, and therefore Google turns to Twitter to discover new content. Content that has generated a lot of traction on Twitter can cut the time it takes Google to find your content.

In February 2015, Google and Twitter penned a deal giving Google access to the “fire hose” of Twitter’s public data, generated by its 300 million users. As a result, all of Twitter’s profile information, tweets, and other public data are available to Google in real-time.

Link-backs and Social Share

Google is taking note of how many link-backs your website receives. The downside is that this is easily manipulated through black-hat SEO techniques, like keyword stuffing and creating fake websites that link back to the website that you are trying to optimize.

As a result, Google has instead chosen to look into social signals, such as Tweets and Facebook posts. This is where the amount of followers and your social reach plays a huge role. The amount of followers you have gives the opportunity for your content to be shared and viewed by many. The value of this is endless.

Boost Authority With Your Social Media Influence

Google will rank your blog post and website higher if it sees that you are a creditable source. Google also considers your social media influence based on different factors that include reach, relevance, and engagement. The more you like, comment, and share on social media, the higher your ranking will grow.

SEO Is Not Just Technical Anymore

SEO isn’t just technical anymore. Google wants the best, most relevant content to rank highly, and the result is that SEO has become more human-friendly. Google is looking more at the kind of content you’re sharing, rather than just the keywords flooding a blog post.

Yes, the meta description and where you place your keyword and so on still matter, but more importantly, it’s how you use keywords to answer questions that people are genuinely asking.

What are the Social Media Platform used for SEO?

our social media platforms have the ability to really ramp up your rankings — and in turn your business goals. Do you know the best social media sites for SEO? With a concerted strategy, dynamic content, and persistence, you can help your business outcompete and truly thrive for the long haul.

First, it is important to understand how SEO impacts social networks. If you stay active (and stay on point) on social media, there are a number of benefits.

Social Media Sites Rank High in Searches

Social media sites typically come up at the top of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP). Plus, many people will choose to go to a brand/company’s social media pages before they go to the website because it is a more personal experience.

Here, they can get an idea of what the brand’s personality is really about and if it fits with their needs and likes. If you stay relevant and on brand with your posts on various social media platforms, the links will become more and more attractive.

Backlinks

Backlinks will be produced when you provide links on your posts. These are links that are inbound to your website and created as a redirect to the site. The more clicks you get on these backlinks, the higher your page will rank on the SERP.

An Increase in Your Website Traffic

Growing your audience on social media platforms is directly correlated with an increase in traffic to your website. It’s about visibility and motivating the users to visit your site with quality, relevant social media content. The more visits you get to your site, the greater your rankings will be.

Greater Influence

Throughout your social media, the number of likes, shares, follows, and comments are a statement of your brand authority. Having high engagement presents you as an influencer in your industry. The more that you have — the more significant the influence. Brand authority = clicks, clicks, and more clicks…

With this information, it is easy to see the connection between social media and SEO — leading to higher rankings to drive business goals.

Let’s now explore six of the best social media sites for SEO:

YouTube

Did you know that YouTube has more than 1.5 billion active monthly users? If you don’t have your own channel, it’s time to get one. Video is one of the most effective ways to attract people to your brand.

Be authentic, creative, and dynamic — and be strategic with your titles and descriptions. With more than 4 billion videos watched every day, YouTube is the second largest search engine on the net behind its owner Google.

Twitter

Twitter is also one of the best social media sites for SEO. Though it’s often used for news and politics, its power in branding and business development can’t be denied. Be strategic with your hashtags and tweet often.

Don’t forget to include links! Draw your viewers in with snappy content and visuals and then lead them to new blogs, products, and special offers.

Facebook

Facebook continues to be powerful all over the world. With more than 1.71 billion monthly users, the social media platform is ripe for SEO. Be attentive with your company page and find and nourish your best promoters on the platform.

Facebook is a great lead generator, so always stay on brand and use targeted keywords in your posts. Make sure to cross-post videos you produce and publish on your YouTube account as well.

Instagram

If your products present really well in the visual arena, Instagram is a perfect place to showcase them. The fashion and beauty industries are very successful here of course, but there is plenty of room for many other types too.

From food to pet products and children’s toys to home décor, Instagram’s branding possibilities present an opportunity for marketing departments to truly shine. Remember to place a new link in the bio that goes back to your website to highlight particular products and special events. This will help to elevate your rankings too. And of course – remember hashtags!

Linkedin

This professional site is growing in power all over the globe — and not just for job seekers. The B2B business is booming. With more than 500 million users, LinkedIn is certainly one of the best social media sites for SEO. Make your company pages descriptive, relevant, and post frequently on here too.

LinkedIn lets you use hashtags with posts as well. It’s a wonderful networking site that is excellent at generating leads and converting sales. Approach it with thoughtfulness though, and don’t inundate new connections with solicitations. It’s bad form.

Pinterest

Pinterest is another visually-focused platform that has a ton of users — more than 175 million. Even though it is not up to the numbers of some of the others, the big takeaway here is that many people go there specifically for the purpose of making purchase decisions (~70%!).

From small-scale makers to high-profile brands, Pinterest is a very valuable tool to use to increase your audience, ramp up your rankings, and stimulate sales.

Using the Power of Social Media for SEO

When you are developing a comprehensive social media strategy, it is essential to have SEO in mind when creating content for your posts and tweets. Ignore SEO at your peril.

Start out with reviewing your current strategy and content and analyze your most popular platforms and posts. Discover areas of opportunity to connect and increase your relevancy and engagement.

The SEO capability with these social networks is enormous. If you are relying on just one or two social media sites, reevaluate your strategy — you could be missing primo opportunities to grow your audience, increase your brand influence, and stimulate sales.

By utilizing the power of six of the best social media sites for SEO, your rankings can rocket past your competitors.

What are Social Media Marketing Services?

Social media marketing is a powerful way for businesses of all sizes to reach prospects and customers. Your customers are already interacting with brands through social media, and if you’re not speaking directly to your audience through social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, you’re missing out!

Great marketing on social media can bring remarkable success to your business, creating devoted brand advocates and even driving leads and sales.

Before you begin creating social media marketing campaigns, consider your business’s goals. Starting a social media marketing campaign without a social strategy in mind is like wandering around a forest without a map—you might have fun, but you’ll probably get lost.

Here are some questions to ask when defining your social media marketing goals:

• What are you hoping to achieve through social media marketing?
• Who is your target audience?
• Where would your target audience hang out and how would they use social media?
• What message do you want to send to your audience with social media marketing?

Your business type should inform and drive your social media marketing strategy.

Social media marketing can help with a number of goals, such as:

• Increasing website traffic
• Building conversions
• Raising brand awareness
• Creating a brand identity and positive brand association
• Improving communication and interaction with key audiences

The bigger and more engaged your audience is on social media networks, the easier it will be for you to achieve every other marketing goal on your list!

Best Social Media Marketing Tips

Ready to get started with marketing on social media? Here are a few social media marketing tips to kick off your social media campaigns.

• Social Media Content Planning — As discussed previously, building a social media marketing plan is essential. Consider keyword research and competitive research to help brainstorm content ideas that will interest your target audience. What are other businesses in your industry doing to drive engagement on social media?
• Great Social Content — Consistent with other areas of online marketing, content reigns supreme when it comes to social media marketing. Make sure you post regularly and offer truly valuable information that your ideal customers will find helpful and interesting. The content that you share on your social networks can include social media images, videos, infographics, how-to guides and more.
• A Consistent Brand Image — Using social media for marketing enables your business to project your brand image across a variety of different social media platforms. While each platform has its own unique environment and voice, your business’s core identity, whether it’s friendly, fun, or trustworthy, should stay consistent.
• Social Media for Content Promotion — Social media marketing is a perfect channel for sharing your best site and blog content with readers. Once you build a loyal following on social media, you’ll be able to post all your new content and make sure your readers can find new stuff right away. Plus, great blog content will help you build more followers. It’s a surprising way that content marketing and social media marketing benefit each other.
• Sharing Curated Links — While using social media for marketing is a great way to leverage your own unique, original content to gain followers, fans, and devotees, it’s also an opportunity to link to outside articles as well. If other sources provide great, valuable information you think your target audience will enjoy, don’t be shy about linking to them. Curating and linking to outside sources improves trust and reliability, and you may even get some links in return.
• Tracking Competitors — It’s always important to keep an eye on competitors—they can provide valuable data for keyword research and other social media marketing insight. If your competitors are using a certain social media marketing channel or technique that seems to be working for them, considering doing the same thing, but do it better!
• Measuring Success with Analytics — You can’t determine the success of your social media marketing strategies without tracking data. Google Analytics can be used as a great social media marketing tool that will help you measure your most triumphant social media marketing techniques, as well as determine which strategies are better off abandoned. Attach tracking tags to your social media marketing campaigns so that you can properly monitor them. And be sure to use the analytics within each social platform for even more insight into which of your social content is performing best with your audience.
• Social Media Crisis Management — Things don’t always go swimmingly for brands on social media. It’s best to have a playbook in place so your employees know how to handle a snafu.

Why Social Media is Good for Marketing?

Social media is quickly becoming one of the most important aspects of digital marketing, which provides incredible benefits that help reach millions of customers worldwide.

And if you are not applying this profitable source, you are missing out an incredible marketing opportunity, as it makes it easy to spread the word about your product and mission.

Improved brand awareness

Social media is one of the most stress-free and profitable digital marketing platforms that can be used to increase your business visibility. To get started, create social media profiles for your business and start networking with others. By applying a social media strategy, it will help you significantly increase your brand recognition.

By spending only a few hours per week, over 91% of marketers claimed that their social marketing efforts greatly increased their brand visibility and heightened user experience. Undoubtedly, having a social media page for your brand will benefit your business and with regular use, it can also produce a wide audience for your business in no time.

Cost-effective

For an advertising strategy, social media marketing is possibly the most cost-effective way. Creating an account and signing up is free for almost all social networking platforms. But if you decide to use paid advertising on social media, always start small to see what you should expect.

Being cost-effective is important as it helps you attain a greater return on investment and hold a bigger budget for other marketing and business payments. Just by investing a little money and time, you can significantly increase your conversion rates and ultimately get a return on investment on the money that you primarily invested.

Engage with your customers

Social media is a good way for engaging and interacting customers. The more you communicate with the audience, the more chances you have of conversion. Set up a two-way communication with your target audience so that their wishes are known and their interest is catered with ease.

Moreover, communication and engagement with customers is one the ways to win their attention and convey them your brand message. Thus, your brand will reach more audience in real terms and gets itself established without any hassle.

Improved brand loyalty

When you have a social media presence, you make it easier for your customers to find you and connect with you. By connecting with your customers through social media, you are more probable to upsurge customer retention and customer loyalty. Since developing a loyal customer base is one of the main goals of almost any business.

Customer satisfaction and brand loyalty typically go hand in hand. It is essential to often engage with your customers and start developing a bond with them. Social media is not just limited to introducing your product, it is also a leading platform for promotional campaigns. A customer sees these platforms as service channels where they can directly communicate with the business. 

Healthier customer satisfaction

Social media plays a vital role in networking and communication platform. With the help of these platforms, creating a voice for your company is important in improving the overall brand image. Customers appreciate the fact that when they post comments on your page, they receive a modified reply rather than a computerized message.

A brand that values its customers, takes the time to compose a personal message, which is perceived naturally in a positive light.

Marketplace awareness

One of the best ways to find the needs and wants of your customers instead of directly communicating with them is Marketplace awareness. It is also considered as the most valuable advantage of social media. By observing the activities on your profile, you can see customers’ interest and opinions that you might not know otherwise if you didn’t have a social media presence.

Read Also: Top 10 Social Media Advertising Agencies

As a complementary research tool, social media can help you get information and a better understanding of your industry. Once you get a large following, you can then use additional tools to examine other demographics of your consumers.

More brand authority

For making your business more powerful, brand loyalty and customer satisfaction both play a major role, but it all comes down to communication. When customers see your company posting on social media, especially replying to their queries and posting original content, it helps them build a positive image in their minds.

Regularly interacting with your customers proves that you and your business care about them. Once you get a few satisfied customers, who are vocal about their positive purchase experience, you can let the advertising be done for you by genuine customers who appreciated your product or service.

Increased traffic

One of the other benefits of Social Media is that it also helps increase your website traffic. By sharing your content on social media, you are giving users a reason to click-through to your website. On your social account, the more quality content you share, the more inbound traffic you will generate while making conversion opportunities.

Enhanced SEO rankings

Social media presence is becoming a vital factor in calculating rankings. These days, to secure a successful ranking, SEO requirements are continuously varying. Therefore, it is no longer enough to simply optimize your website and regularly update your blog. Businesses sharing their content on social media are sending out a brand signal to search engine that speaks to your brand validity, integrity, and constancy.

Final words

There is no denying that Social media marketing has many advantages for startups and established brands. By regular updating the right social media marketing strategy, it will lead to increased traffic, better SEO, improved brand loyalty, healthier customer satisfaction and much more.

Your competition is already increasing on social media day by day, so don’t let your competitors take your probable customers. The earlier you start, the faster you see the growth in your business.