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When social media networking sites began being used as marketing tools a few years ago, many experts claimed they definitely increased website search engine rankings. After that, Google began making cryptic announcements that made many people wonder if social media affected SEO at all. To cut through the confusion, we’re giving you three big ways social media affects SEO.
Social media profiles rank in search engines
It is still unclear how much social media influences your site’s position in search listings but it’s a definite that your social profiles will influence the content of your search results. When you search for your business, your social media pages will rank and often times, Google will include your Google+ profile in the sidebar at the top of the page. Having your social media pages rank will help your business get discovered and help potential customers learn more about your business since social media sites tend to show more personality than websites do.
Social sharing increases links
When a link to your website is shared on social media, it impact how search engines view your site. Bing has clearly stated that social signals affects page rankings in their algorithm. Google has been more coy about admitting to using social shares as signals for a website’s credibility and popularity. However, they have stated that Google crawls social sites such as Facebook and Twitter for data, like it does with other sites, which leads many experts to believe that the social shares are sited as credible back links to Google and can impact search engine rankings.
Google+ will improve your relevancy and search results
Google is the most popular search engine used today and it often feels like we are only talking about ranking on Google when we discuss SEO. While there’s many parts to SEO, ranking on Google is one of the biggest components. Therefore, you need to be on Google+ because it does affect your Google search results. Google+ reviews, profiles and posts show up in search engine results. Also, when you are signed into your Google+ account, your connections impact your search results. So if you are searching for a Chinese food restaurant and someone you are connected to in Google+ has +1 a Chinese restaurant in your area, it will appear in your search results.
Conclusion
The amount of followers and engagement in your social media profiles might not impact your SEO but being on social media does give you a bigger presence online, which in turn impacts SEO. Focus on connections and consistency and your website should rank just fine. And as always, SEO and social media is a fluctuating relationship but it is a permanent one. Learn to leverage the two to give your website the boost it might need. Contact us to see how we can help!
