When it comes to social media and SEO and how they affect each other, experts will give you various answers. Some believe there is a correlation between the two when it comes to ranking a website. Others will say there is not any effect that social media sites have on search engine optimization. So what gives? Does social media affect SEO?
No matter what individuals say, there is evidence that social media can affect your SEO efforts because it makes your website visible! Which social media platform you use may impact your SEO efforts. The top five social media platforms to use for your business are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
What about social signals? Can alike really help your search engine optimization? Will many shares help you rank higher on the SERPs? Yes, it is very possible that both of these things can make your rankings better. Once again, there is a correlation between them, but the actual act of just liking or sharing may not be the reason rankings are increasing.
The good thing about likes and shares is that they can make your presence online more known.
You may wonder if a social profile will help your SEO efforts. It very well could. Google looks at social media profiles, which is why they are turning up on searches you may have performed. This means that not only will you be able to rank for a blog, but also your social media page.
Social backlinking is another area that can affect your SEO strategy. Backlinking can increase rankings. As we have stated above, Google crawls social media pages the same as it does other sites. Therefore, by performing backlinking, you are able to generate traffic to your site.
Now, you may be thinking that social backlinking is considered a “no-follow”. Google does not allow this type of link to help with page ranking. While this is true, these backlinks can certainly help with brand signals.
Brand signals occur when an external source mentions the brand. When this occurs, the search engines see it as more important, which can assist in ranking.
But how does Google determine if it is indeed a “brand” or if it is “generic”? Google separates the two using the following information:
- Do they have employees working for them?
- Do they have social media pages?
- Are you able to contact the company?
- Do they have an “about” page?
- Are they registered with government or trade associations?
- Do many individuals search for their brand name?
- What are their marketing efforts looking like?
- What is their office address? Is there a physical address?
| Brand site | Generic Site | |
| Employees | yes | Many times do not have anyone working for them |
| Social media | Yes, they have their own social media pages | Lack of social online presence |
| Contact information | Have contact info on their website | Probably only have a contact form if that |
| About page on the website | yes | no |
| Registered with government or trade associations | Yes | Most likely not |
| Searches for brand name | Yes | May or may not, probably few if any |
| Marketing efforts | Yes- offline with advertising campaigns too | Generally not |
| Office or physical address | Yes | May not |
Co-citation can also help your search engine optimization efforts. Let’s say that your website is mentioned on many websites but is not linked. Google takes this into account and labels it as “co-citation”. When this happens, it can make a website gain more trust from others.
What’s more is that when your brand is recognized, it receives special attention from the search engine. Furthermore, seven in ten individuals will pick the brand that is recognized as they see it as an established brand.
So how does a brand become established? Social media sites, such as Facebook, can help. Through these sites, more individuals see the brand, which in turn makes it trusted. After all, a whopping 79% of US citizens have social media profiles.
No matter what social media pages you are using for your company, make sure you are optimizing them as well. If you are uncertain how social media can help your business, consider contacting an SEO agency, such as Local SEO Company in Tampa, FL for all your social media and SEO needs.