Understand Social Media SEO
Links, as we have seen, count as votes in SEO. Google clearly rewards sites that have many keywords, relevant links (especially those from high authority websites), with higher positions on Google search results. Social Media in a sense builds on this network of link authority. How so? While Google has not publicly clarified how it uses what are called social signals SEO, we can postulate some logical patterns of how Google might- interpret social signals.
If Website A has its URL ‘Tweeted” and Website B does not, then Website A must be more important.
If blog post A on trending topic #1 has 12 tweets of its URL, and blog post B on trending topic #I has 35 tweets of its URL, then blog post B must be more relevant for the corresponding Google search query.
If website A has 20,000 followers on Twitter, and Website B has only 100, then website A must be more important.
In a nutshell, havingyourURL’s tweeted, shared on Linkedin or Facebook, or mentioned on other social networks is a form of link-building.
Evidence that this occurs is visible in how Google quickly figures out trending news. It’s common knowledge that the first place people go to for breaking news is Twitter, and accordingly, a quick Google search of a trending topic (try searching Google, for example, for “The Kardashians,” or “Donald Trump,” or “iPhone Games”) and you’ll often find new and fresh content that is being shared heavily on Twitter. For instance, here’s a screenshot of the search for “wildfire” showing recent news and tweets about California Wildfires:
What these two searches tell us is that by monitoring social media Google figures out that the former search is for news and news events, while the latter is a stable search that is definitional in character. Behind the scenes, Google is using social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to “figure out” which searches are time-sensitive and which ones are not. Now, take that a step further, and you’ll realize that many searches are mixed. A search for “iPhone,” for example, is a mixture of stable and news-oriented information. Social media is the intervening factor; the takeaway is that we can influence Google by influencing our social media profiles and buzz. Another clue is Google’s relationship with Twitter. Google has a formal partnership of Twitter in which Google gets the first crack at the Twitter “firehose” of breaking news. It stands to reason, therefore, that having your URLs shared on Twitter might help them for SEO purposes.
How does social media impact SEO?
First and foremost, sites that enjoy inbound links via social mentions of URLs from social sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, or even Facebook are clearly topical and relevant to Google. A simple site:twitter.com search on Google reveals over 399 million indexed Tweets and a simple site:facebook.com search on. Google reveals over 1.4 million indexed Facebook posts.
Google clearly pays attention to the social sharing of links!
Social Shares are The New Link Building
Second, robust and active social profiles are another obvious clue to Google of your website’s relevance. Many sites link out to their Yelp account, Twitter account, Facebook page, LinkedIn page, etc., and those social sites can be indexed by Google. Google can clearly “see” how active your company is on social media, how many “followers” you have, and whether those followers, in turn, are active and/or important. Most importantly, Google can “count” your “reviews” on Google My Business, Yelp, YellowPages, and other local review sites
It stands to reason that having an active social media footprint, with active posts, many engaged followers, and many reviews is a new signal to Google about your website’s relevance. Indeed, much of this is keyword centric, another reason why knowing your keywords is paramount to SEO success!
Third, social search has made the Web more human. Whereas in the past, the creators of Web content were relatively invisible, new ways of communicating “microdata” can tell Google how many reviews your site has, who the content author is, and whether this author has an active, engaged follower community or not. Realizing that SEO is now a social game positions your company for not just the present but the future of SE0 success on Google
To be clear, remember that “traditional links” remain far, far more important than social shares to this day: so if you have to choose between a “traditional link” (e.g., from a blog post) and a “social share” (e.g., the Tweeting of your. URL), choose the former, Links still remain the dominant currency of SEO, worth far more than social media shares.
Get Social Mentions
Getting social mentions of your URLs is a lot like traditional link building. First, look for easy social mention targets. Ask customers, suppliers, and ecosystem partners to tweet your URLs, share your company’s blog posts on Facebook, and “like” them on Facebook. Second, “reverse engineer” competitors or use common Google and social media searches to find social media sharers who might be interested in your content.
Get Tweeted
In this regard, Twitter is the most important network for SEO purposes. You want to not only set up your business Twitter account and tweet out your own URLs (e.g., a new blog post or new press release). You also want to get real people on Twitter to tweet those URL’s, too.
