Word on the street is that SEO and social media specialists keep the “secret code” of optimization to themselves instead of educating their clients. But the cold hard truth is – there is no secret code. Search engine optimization is about analyzing your site’s visitors – not chasing Google and Bing.
Social Media Is A Tool For Rankings
For years, Google and other search engines have been using social media engagement metrics as a ranking toll. Criteria such as shares, mentions, likes, and reposts/retweets are used by search engines as a form of validation, similar to links. One analogy to describe the quality and quantity of links and social mentions is like voting. Think of each link and each social mention as a vote of confidence. The more votes you have, the more likely you are to be seen as an authority. Logic deduces the higher the quantity and more importantly the quality of votes received, the higher the rank for targeted keyword terms.
Social Media Is Engagement
When you think of SEO and social media, what do you think of? Most people think of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest. That’s not all there is. SEO and social media is about engagement, no matter what set of metrics you track. Follows on Twitter, Shares on LinkedIn, Likes on Facebook, and Pins on Pinterest are just the beginning. Digital marketing success is rated by how many conversions are attributed from our efforts; form submissions, e-commerce sales, or in-store purchases. Everything digital is measurable.
Think about the last time you sought to purchase a good or service online. What were some of the things you noticed? Did the shop have a Facebook fan page? Did the business have a presence on Twitter? We did in fact look at Twitter and Facebook…. who wouldn’t? A thousand followers on Facebook can be bought for $35, but engagement is the key. The quality of followers needs to be evident, because service and accessibility is what matters. There’s no number of fans that can calm the nerves of a potential customer straddling the fence. But, reviews and interactions can give them the “warm fuzzies” to overcome any apprehension.
SEO and Social Media Help Gain Visibility, Traffic And Conversions
Search engines and social media specialists have been developing a symbiotic relationship for some time now. It’s time to get integrate your social media platforms with your SEO efforts. Promoting your content through social networks will not only build authority, increase following, and drive traffic, but will also boost search engine relevancy. Aside from the role of social signals as secondary traffic mediums, mentions like tweets, shares, likes, and +1’s are effecting search engine rankings; like it or not.
If you’re interested in saving time and money, bringing alignment to all internet mediums by keeping in mind the correlations of SEO and social media is the key to success.