Integrating Social Media and SEO Strategies
If SEO is the “yellow pages” of the digital marketing world, allowing people to find you when they are actively seeking your products and services, then Social Media is the TV advertising of today, pushing your content in front of your target audience.
However, while most organisations include both SEO and social media marketing strategies in their business plan, there is often a lack of cohesion when it comes to how both work together.
We explore how your social media impacts your SEO.
Does social media impact SEO results?
There are misconceptions when it comes to how social media and SEO work together. While in itself social media does not directly affect your SEO rankings, it completely influences factors that do. Here are some examples:
Increased visibility and traffic
Social media platforms are powerful channels for pushing content from your website to reach a wider audience. By sharing your content,, such as blog posts, product pages, or service pages, you increase your visibility, leading more people to your website. This increased traffic can signal to search engines that your website is valuable, thus potentially helping to increase your search rankings.
Enhanced Brand Recognition and Authority:
A consistent and engaging presence on social media helps in building brand recognition. As more people become familiar with your brand through social media, they are more likely to click on your website when it appears in search results.
In addition, a strong brand presence can lead to more backlinks, as other sites are more likely to cite you as a source, thanks to finding your content via your social networks. In effect, your social media platforms can also help to enhance your digital PR efforts.
Social Listening for SEO Insights:
Social media can be a goldmine for understanding what your audience is interested in and discussing.
Undertaking keyword research on traditional sites like SEMrush or within the Google Ads platform is always helpful. However, it can be slow to pick up emerging trends as data tends to be backwards-looking rather than completely current.
However, the rapid nature of social media allows you to source topics that are completely up-to-date and build your content strategy around them.
These insights can guide content creation, allowing you to produce SEO-friendly content that addresses the needs and questions that your ideal audience have, right now.
How social media can enhance local SEO
For businesses with a physical presence, social media can be instrumental in boosting local SEO. Engaging with local communities, sharing location-specific content, and encouraging reviews on social platforms can enhance your visibility in local search results and should form part of your local SEO strategy.
Do Facebook reviews show on Google My Business Profile?
Facebook reviews can be shown on your Google My Business Profile if your Facebook profile is fairly active and you have a strong, active following.
Social Media and E-E-A-T Factors
Social media significantly contributes to building your brand's Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (EEAT), key factors considered by search engines.
Expertise: By sharing knowledgeable content in your field, social media platforms allow you to demonstrate your expertise. This can be through insightful posts, informative videos, or engaging with your audience on topical issues. Such activities highlight your expertise to both your audience and search engines.
Experience: Showcasing your experience through case studies, customer testimonials, and stories of your brand's journey on social media can enhance your credibility. This real-world proof of your proficiency can positively impact your SEO as search engines value content from experienced sources.
Authoritativeness: Building an authoritative brand on social media involves sharing content, engaging in conversations, and being cited or shared by other authoritative figures and entities in your industry. This recognition can reinforce your standing as an authority in your field, signalling to search engines the legitimacy and value of your website.
Trustworthiness: Trust is a crucial component. By maintaining an active, consistent, and honest presence on social media and transparently addressing customer concerns, you build trust with your audience. This trust is vital, as search engines favour websites that are deemed trustworthy by users.
Integrating EEAT into your social media strategy enhances your brand’s recognition and bolsters your SEO efforts. As your brand grows in stature on social media platforms, it's not just about the number of followers you gain but the trust, authority, and expertise you demonstrate, which in turn positively influences your SEO rankings.
Do Social Signals Influence SEO Rankings? Understanding the Role of Social Media
There's a common question in the SEO world: Are social media activities, known as social signals, a ranking factor for search engines like Google and Bing? The answer is somewhat complex—officially, no, but in practice, yes.
Understanding Social Signals and Google's Stance
Social signals refer to the various interactions on social media platforms, such as posts, likes, comments, shares, and even the number of followers. The prevailing belief is that these signals can directly impact a website's ranking on search engines.
While it's true that Google utilises social media profiles to verify the authenticity of a business, primarily focusing on the business's Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP), it doesn't necessarily use social signals directly as ranking factors. Google rigorously checks for NAP consistency across all online platforms, including social media, to ensure accuracy. Discrepancies in contact details can negatively impact a business's visibility in local search results.
Furthermore, Google might assess social media profiles to gauge an author's firsthand experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, collectively known as E-E-A-T. However, it's important to note that E-E-A-T is not a distinct ranking factor but a set of signals contributing to the overall assessment of content quality. Content from a credible author and site tends to rank higher due to these signals.
Indirect Impact of Social Signals
Most of the influence attributed to social signals arises from indirect effects. High traffic to your website from social media, positive user engagement with your content, and an increase in backlinks can indirectly boost your SEO. These factors contribute to higher rankings because they signal to search engines that your content is valuable and engaging.
Bing's Approach to Social Signals
In contrast to Google, Bing openly incorporates social signals into its ranking algorithm. Bing views extensive social sharing as an indicator of content quality and relevance, thus potentially ranking such content higher. Additionally, Bing utilises social media content in its knowledge panels, integrating it more deeply into its search results.
In summary, while social signals may not be a direct ranking factor for Google, their impact is felt indirectly through other SEO-relevant metrics. On the other hand, Bing directly utilises these signals, reflecting a slightly different approach in its search algorithm.
Social Media SEO: Using SEO Tactics on Social Platforms
The integration of SEO into social media platforms, particularly Instagram and TikTok, signifies a dynamic shift in how content is discovered and valued online. These platforms are moving towards algorithms that resemble those used by traditional search engines, prioritising content relevance and quality over conventional signals like hashtags or follower counts. This evolution in social media SEO presents both challenges and opportunities for digital marketers.
Content Relevance Over Popularity Metrics:
The new algorithms on platforms like Instagram and TikTok focus more on the substance and relevance of content rather than superficial metrics. This means that posts are evaluated based on their ability to engage and resonate with the audience rather than just on the number of likes or hashtags used.
User Engagement as a Key Factor:
Engagement metrics such as the time spent on a post, the interaction rate (comments, shares), and the relevance of these interactions are gaining prominence. Content that encourages genuine user engagement is more likely to gain visibility.
Personalised Content Discovery:
These platforms are increasingly employing sophisticated machine learning algorithms to tailor content feeds to individual user preferences. This personalisation means that content strategies should focus on creating value for a specific target audience rather than trying to appeal to everyone.
SEO Techniques for Social Media:
Keywords and search intent are becoming vital in social media content creation. Understanding what your audience is searching for and incorporating those keywords into your posts can increase your content's visibility.
Cross-Platform Content Strategy:
The lines between different digital platforms are blurring. A cohesive content strategy that bridges your website, social media, and other digital platforms is crucial. Content should be optimised for search engines while being shareable and engaging on social media.
Understanding where people search
You’ve probably heard that younger people are now searching on Tiktok more than on Google. While this is partially true, the reality is that where we search for content will often depend on intent.
Want to learn how to cook a recipe step by step? If you enjoy waiting cooking videos, you might head to YouTube or Tiktok to cook along with your favourite chef. However, if you want a local plumber, chances are that your first port of call will be Google.
While the way that people search is changing, it’s still the case that ranking for high-intent keywords or Google is likely to drive traffic, so if you improve your SEO, you improve your visibility online.
Looking for help with your social media or for affordable SEO services? Get in touch to discover how we can help your business to grow.
