As social media takes off and users on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram increase at an alarming rate, the most talked about question still remains: “Does social media contribute to my site’s SEO?” Well, the short answer is no… But in many cases, it’s a yes. Just not the way you’re thinking.
Social media may not help your site’s SEO the way that you may think it does, especially if it’s the conventional way. This may be hard to hear since most popular hits on Google more often than not, have a strong social media following. There is undoubtedly a correlation to social media and SEO, but always remember this: “Correlation does not imply causation.” Got it? Good, now let’s move on.
We know that Google uses links as one of its top ranking factors, and we know that Google does not count social media shares as individual links. But, once again, we may see some correlation here. If you’re creating great content and you are receiving multiple shares on your posts, thus, in turn, receiving multiple link clicks, your rankings will undoubtedly be boosted. So the fact that the more popular Instagram/Twitter/Facebook (pick your poison) accounts have the most link clicks shouldn’t be a surprise, but just know that it is (once again) not the direct factor.
So now that we’ve settled the fact that social media is not the directing factor to SEO, here are some ways that it will help your SEO.
You’re sharable
When it comes to sharing content, the more shares you receive, the more eyes will see it. The more eyes that see it, the more link clicks you can potentially get, thus driving the traffic on your site. This is a White Hat SEO strategy. White hat SEO refers to the use of techniques and strategies that target a human audience as opposed to a search engine. A free, organic way of boosting your site’s SEO and improving your rankings.
Building your Audience
Sure, social media is not the complete answer to your SEO problems, but the fact is, to get in front of your customers, you need to be available. And no, I don’t mean just a website and an email, I mean Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and maybe even a Pinterest. It means more than you think to have followers. Imagine having a huge email list, (which you may already have) but you get to put faces next to these names and you can reach them everyday… for FREE.
We know who you are!
These platforms allow you to create brand awareness and the brand loyalty that you oh-so-desperately want, which can improve the likeliness of people clicking on your brand’s name in their search results. The bigger your brand is, the more trusted you become. The more trusted you become, the more customers will use your brand’s name in their next google search. For example, if you sell cameras → “[your company name] cameras”. They see you every day on social media and now are confident in your product to search your brand for their next purchase. According to a case study completed by Search Engine Journal, the site FashionNova.com rose from nothing to 88,000 keywords in SEMrush over the course of a year. All in part to its strong social media presence and over 6.3 million followers who, you guessed it, searched them on Google. [/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”25px”][vc_column_text]We might not all become success stories like Fashionova, but one thing we can do is stop doubting the positive effect that social media can have on your SEO.
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