How Social Media Affects SEO – Part I

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We all know that content is king when it comes to ranking high in search engines, and that most businesses are using social media to push content, but do you know specifically how social media affects search engine optimization? You’re probably saying, “link building of course!” While link building is definitely an important goal of social media activity, it’s more of an indirect affect, and just one of the many benefits. In this article, we’ll dive deeper into exactly how social media affects SEO and what steps you need to take to make sure your activity if effective and fruitful.

Social Sharing Creates Link Potential

Social sharing increases the visibility of a brand or website content, which creates an opportunity for a content creator, such as a blogger or journalist, to link to that page of content. For example, if your business posts an article about a new product or service, and that post gets shared by your followers on Twitter and Facebook, it creates an opportunity to get noticed by someone who runs a blog or is a writer for a publication. If that author decides to write about your product or service, and links back to your page of content in a blog post or article of their own, then you have yourself a link.How Social Media Affects SEO

Links from other websites equate to credibility of page content, and therefore search engines are more likely to rank your page higher if it has been linked to from other credible websites. So it’s not the actual social sharing that is considered a link, but what happens as a result of social sharing.

In order to be effective through social sharing, it’s important to build relationships with content creators so that you can share content with them. If search rankings are important to your business, then start prioritizing relationships with content creators.

Social Interactions

The more likes, shares, +1s, tweets and comments your page content has, the better. These social interactions tell Google that people like the page content and think it’s reliable information, and therefore Google is more likely to rank this page higher in search results. So be sure to add social sharing options to your blog so readers can help in your SEO efforts.

Google+ Personalizes Search Results

Google+ activity has a direct affect for Google+ users if users are logged in while searching in Google. If you are connected to a business associate via Google+, and that person has +1ed a page, reviewed a business, or posted on Google+ about the topic you are searching for, then Google will rank those pages higher for you in your search results. For example, if Joe makes a post about website designs, +1ed a page about website designs or reviewed a website design company, and then Mary (who’s in Joe’s circle) searches for the keywords “website design” while logged into Google, then Joe’s post, +1, or review will rank higher. Mary will also be able to see that Joe’s activity in her search results. Google+ activity does not affect searches made in Bing or Yahoo, but will have a big impact in searches made with Google.

Brand Awareness Increases Search

How Social Media Affects SEO - DoubleDomeSocial media activity increases brand awareness, which leads more people to search for your brand using search engines. The more often people are searching for your brand, the more popular and well-known search engines consider you and, therefore, rank you higher in search results.

Hopefully, you learned some new tactics to consider for your search engine optimization strategy. Watch for another post (Part 2) in a few weeks to learn more about how social media affects SEO. Until then, remember, it’s not just activity that matters – it’s what results from that activity. If you’re looking for advice or assistance with your search engine optimization efforts, call DoubleDome Web Technologies. We’re SEO experts!

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Chris co-founded DoubleDome Digital Marketing, merging his business degree and technical consulting experience with his fondness for all things Internet. Focused on sales & marketing, Chris has led DoubleDome to 20 straight years of profitability. He leads the marketing and sales groups.
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