Do social media impact your website’s Google rankings? This is a question that puzzles every marketer and business owner. While we know how much important social channels hold for a business’s popularity, do these really contribute to increasing or decreasing SERP rankings?
If we go a few years earlier, then in 2010 Google had stated that social channels impact search rankings. However, in 2014, Google’s Matt Cutts stated that Google doesn’t look at social signals for ranking factor.
Do Social Media really Impact Search Rankings?
While there can be arguments and different perspectives, opinions and statements from search engines and industry experts, we do know how important a role social channels play when it comes to attracting targeted customers. Although, there isn’t a factual aspect, but most of the marketers will agree that social signals do impact search rankings of websites and businesses. And it is no surprise then that social media marketing strategy is a key element for any business’ virtual or online promotional tactics.
How Social Channels or Social Signals Impact Websites’ Marketing Strategies?
Whether it is an established business or a start-up, they do know that their implementation of SEO strategy has to include social media promotion (creating and updating their presence across different social media channels), because:
- It has been found through various studies that a strong social media presence does lead to increase in search rankings.
- If we compare high ranking URLs with the low-ranking ones, the former ones have a strong presence and shares on popular social channels like Facebook, LinkedIn and etc.
- According to a study by Hootsuite, pages that had more social channel engagement been 22% more likely to appear higher on search rankings.
- While Google hasn’t officially accepted this, but wider evidence relates to a correlation between search rankings and social shares.
- And Bing has officially accepted this notion about their search ranking algorithms.
How a Business Website Can Get Benefitted from Social Signals?
On an average 4 out of 5 people you meet would have a presence on at least one social media channel. And it is not for nothing that for lead generation social media plays a big role, as it is the platform where any industry or business type can approach their target customers. And it holds true for any B2B or B2C business. Improved social signals help a website to:
- Increase customer engagement
- Become more visible
- Drive more traffic
- Improve domain authority
- Widen product and service promotion strategy
- Enhance ranking as a result of increased popularity
What Strategies to Use to Improve Your Social Signals?
- Engaging Content
What is the most important factor that helps you to connect and engage your customers? Content. What you write and how you present that holds high importance, for enhanced engagement and increasing social signals.
- Interactive Posts
Creative images, videos about your products and services, infographics, content that includes interesting facts and stats, are all interactive elements that work to enhance engagement.
- Posts Schedule
You publish one great content post on your social profile and then your audience keeps waiting for when you will be publishing next, only to move away in the meanwhile. Well, more often you publish, more often you interact with your customers and more social signals you create.
- Follow Trends
What is trending and what is popular in today’s times is what people will be more excited about to read and follow. So, the better you are updated about trends in your industry and follow that in your posts, the better it is for your social signals.
- Give Rewards
Conduct surveys, contests and promote giveaways that are a sure shot to attract more and more people to your social media profile.
- Join Groups
There would be several groups in your niche that you should be a part of, make your presence and engage in constructive discussions that will give high and valuable authority to your brand.
- Have Influencers Boost Your Brand
Working with social media influencers that create interactive and engaging posts to share with their thousands and millions of followers will definitely work to your advantage.
There is enough evidence that suggest that there is a relation between social signals and search engine rankings, and therefore you cannot afford to ignore the importance of creating strong social signals for your brand online.
Conclusion:
While social media channels are extremely popular to target and engage with your targeted audience, it isn’t the only strategy that you have to focus on. Developing social signals must be implemented alongside a strong SEO strategy that includes keyword research, website performance, domain authority, content creation, and link building. Make sure your agency for professional SEO services does cover all the facets in business marketing and promotion online, making use of best tactics to get in result better visibility and enhanced organic traffic and conversion.
