The ways in which social media can positively impact your website’s organic rankings

Does social media activity cause an effect on your SEO? Is there any evidence of that? The truth is that there is a relation between social media shares and escalation in rankings. Activities on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter do not seem to affect SEO directly, but both social media and SEO are correlated.

Thus, we have put together some aspects that you should keep in mind if you want to improve your organic rankings through social media platforms. Stay tuned!

The correlation between social media and SEO

Every time that you share a piece of content on your social media channels, it will get tons of likes and shares. Although, this does not necessarily mean that you will rank on the top Google results. What we know for sure is that having more exposure can generate some benefits, such as:

1. Improve your online visibility and organic traffic.
2. Increase your brand awareness.
3. Gain brand reputation.
4. Longer impact of your posts.

Moreover, the piece of content that you share has more chances to get backlinks to other websites, which can lead to better rankings. We do understand here that, the better the content and its quality, the more visibility it will get within the SERPs.

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Focusing on high-quality content creation

As above mentioned, you will need to focus your efforts on the kind of content that you publish on your website. If this is something you are lacking, you have to start producing valuable content. The rest will come with it. A very common mistake is only sharing self-promotional content, as promoting your products or service pages. Of course, they are key elements on your site, but they do not perform well on social platforms. Instead of focusing on the sales process, try to create content that users want to read and learn from. For example, a dedicated tutorial or a compelling guide-to can make a huge difference. You just have to rethink your content strategy.  

How does social media connect with SEO?

The more that an article or piece of content is shared on social channels, the more links it will get. Online audiences can improve your SEO, as Google values quality links and recognises them as a part of ranking factors. This is a social signal that affects your organic rankings. For example, if a blog goes viral on social media, the more likes, shares and backlinks it will get. Therefore, Google will use those social signals and will push your content up in the rankings.

Video content is key for search engines

As we all know now, content in the form of video is much easier to consume for users. Moreover, it is gaining huge importance for Google: they have bumped up the importance of video content in its algorithm. Keep this in mind and make the most of video platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, and try to publish video content more often. Search engines will crawl your video for organic search results, and at the same time, these platforms will give more visibility and improve your content’s rankings. You can also take this opportunity to add backlinks to your site via your videos or edit the meta descriptions.

Keep an eye on your followers

Another mistake to avoid when making the most of your social platforms is not to try to get the maximum number of online followers. Don’t get obsessed about the idea of getting 1 million followers: just focus on getting the right ones. By doing so, it is better to build an online relationship with influencers from your industry or niche. Establishing partnerships with them can result in great opportunities for you and your business. How can you do this?

• Build relationships, not links. Take some time to share and comment on their content, by adding personalised and well-crafted messages: they will notice you.
• Help them through their link-building efforts. Link to them when publishing content on important blogs or sites.
• Participate in giveaways and other competitions. Be always there when they interact with their audience.

Grow the number of branded searches

As your social media channels will help you establish a consistent relationship with your audience, your brand will be more recognised. This way, people will become aware of your product or service. Thus, when consumers search for your brand name on Google plus a keyword, this simple act can help you rank higher. For example, if they type in “[minttwist] web design”, and they interact with your content, Google will think that your page ranks well for “[minttwist] web design”. This will bring better results for “web design”, and you will escalate positions for the keyword “web design”.

Social media also affects your local SEO

As you probably know, having a bespoke local SEO strategy plays a fundamental role in every business. Hence, if you update your NAP (name of your company, phone number, address, etc.) and are consistent with it, you will appear on top of the SERPs. How can social media help you with that? Easy! If you also add your NAP information to your social media accounts, local directories and so on, and use those social accounts to geotag your blog posts and other info, your local audience will become aware of your products/services.

The reviews on your social media channels will also help you gain traction and new customers.

Incorporate your keywords into your social channels

A good idea would be to add the keyword strategy that you are using for your website into your social media messages. Do not craft your tweets with unnecessary keyword stuffing, but give them a natural look. By adding your relevant keywords to your social content, you can increase the reach of your messages.

Conclusion

As discussed, it is clear that social media is vital for your SEO and overall digital marketing strategy, although it may not affect directly your rankings. Moreover, social media channels will give more visibility to your brand, gaining more traction and organic traffic. Keep this in mind when designing your digital marketing strategy!