Social media does not directly improve your SEO. Rather (and that’s a BIG rather), it significantly supports your SEO strategy. When your followers interact with your content via social signals – likes, comments, and shares – they are contributing to more online visibility and traffic for your company. Let’s highlight a few benefits. Sharing on social media:
- Allows for increased visibility
- Boosts brand awareness
- Contributes to content distribution
- Gives you an opportunity to link to your website
- Helps with link building
- Helps you easily discover your target audience
- Signals to Google that a new page needs to be indexed
How does social media indirectly affect SEO?
Like we mentioned earlier, social media does not directly affect your SEO rankings. However, it shouldn’t be written off as unnecessary, as it can indirectly affect your rankings. To understand how social media supports SEO, consider this cycle:
Step 1: Your company publishes content on your social media platform of choice.
Step 2: Your content gains traction through social signals.
Step 3: Your social media site gains followers while your website simultaneously gains traffic (thanks to the high-quality content that links to your website).
Step 4: Your company’s brand recognition grows.
Step 5: Your company’s reputation strengthens as followers interact with social media content.
Step 6: Your website ranks higher in the SERPs as it experiences more traffic.
Step 7: Your target audience finds your website and company via organic search results.
Repeat, repeat, and repeat.
Simple Tips to Boost SEO Rankings Using Social Media
Now that you know how social media can affect your SEO rankings, let’s highlight five tips to boost your SEO using social media.
1. Publish Content that Helps You Establish Authority in Your Industry
Make your content count. Don’t “waste” a post on content that provides no value to the reader. By producing helpful information, you are establishing authority within your industry and the reader will realize that your content (and company!) is trustworthy. Here are a few questions to ask yourself to assess if your content is useful for the reader:
- Does my content provide a solution to a problem?
- Does my content inform the reader about an important topic?
- Is my content entertaining or informative?
These are not the only options to consider when you’re creating social content, but it’s a good start.
2. (Almost) Always Include a Link in Your Post
When you add a link to your post, you’re telling your reader, “Hey! There’s more for you to see. Click here.” But to reap the benefits of adding the link, it’s ultimately in the hands of the reader. The reader may or may not bother clicking, but if they do, it’s well worth the addition of the link.
Sometimes, a link may not be necessary if it’s a holiday post or a personal post. Remember to gauge your posts on a validity and authority scale. You want both.
3. Fight the Social Media Algorithm
No matter how incredible your content is, the social media algorithms will determine who sees it and how long it stays in someone’s newsfeed. However, you can fight the algorithm and extend the lifecycle of your post! Here are a few ways you can do that:
- Ask people to “share this post”
- Update older content that received a lot of interaction and re-share it
- Post your content during the best time and day of the week for that particular social platform
These tips could help your post have a longer lifecycle versus if you simply published your post and crossed your fingers.
4. Team Up Your SEO Team & Social Media Managers
Are your SEO manager and social media manager in two different departments? That’s understandable, but both departments need to communicate frequently to create intentional social media posts. Your company’s social media posts should be in sync with the SEO keywords and phrases your company is pushing.
5. Publish Content that Interests Your Target Audience
If you want your target audience to participate in social signals, you have to give them a reason to do so. Conduct keyword research that relates to your products and services, then implement those keywords into your posts. Also, consider browsing your competitor’s social media pages to see which posts get the most interaction. From there, you can determine what topics interest your target audience.
M&R Marketing Can Manage your SEO & Social Media Platforms!
Your social media and SEO efforts cannot be left to guesswork or chance. Make them work FOR your company. If you’re unsure how to do this, our team will gladly take this task off your plate. Our digital strategists are obsessed with social media and SEO, but even more obsessed with how to help your company grow and find even more success. Give our account managers a call with your questions: 478-621-4491.
Stay tuned for our four-part series on social media:
- Does Posting on Social Media Improve Your SEO?
- Are Facebook Ads Worth It? The Inside Scoop on Social Media Advertising
- Do Instagram Ads Work? How to Track Results and Make Adjustments
- Is it Worth it for Your Business to Create a LinkedIn Page?