Have you thought about how you can use social media to boost SEO? If you want an effective digital strategy, it is important to include SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and social media into that strategy. So today, we are going to talk about three ways you can use social media to do just that.
Just How Can You Use Social Media to Boost SEO?
For some, there has been a little confusion on how these two can work together to achieve great marketing results. And we will clear that up. In 2010, Google indicated that links used on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter were used as ranking signals. But then a short four years later, they released a video indicating that these sites were treated like any other web pages when it came to search. This is why we need to stay current with changes if we want to make sure our content has the best chance of being found.
Gain these 3 Benefits When You Use Social Media to Boost SEO
When done properly social media can boost your SEO. Read on for three ways that can happen.
1. Using high-quality Social Media can lead to quality backlinks.
Through the years backlink ranking science has changed. And even though it has changed, having quality backlinks to your website is still an important ranking factor. It so happens that social media is a great way to use these website links.
This process is simple. Share your best content and build relationships around that content. Having great content will help ensure it gets shared more frequently. This gives more people an opportunity to find the links to your content.
2. Social Media helps build brand awareness, and may also carry over to searches.
Your social media platforms add more digital locations for your target audience to find and engage with you! When you are building your brand and your audience, that audience will be able to easily recognize you when they are searching for what you have to offer. You will receive more clicks on your site. This will help you with building social proof and may lead to more branded organic search traffic not only coming to your social media pages, but more importantly, to your website!
3. Social Media increases content visibility, which is your ultimate goal for SEO.
If you are not repurposing your content on your blog/website posts for social media posts and more, you need to start now! It gives your content another place to be seen, and it encourages interaction, engagement, and sharing. There is huge potential for additional reach on your social media sites, so don’t miss this opportunity.
Start with Three Easy Tips on How to Use Social Media to Boost SEO
As we discussed earlier, social media can add a boost to your SEO efforts; however, if not done properly, it can unfortunately have the opposite effect. Here are a few tips:
1. Optimize your Profiles.
Make sure your profiles are optimized for the search engines. Note that a profile is not the place to use hashtags. For example, if you use #OrlandoRealEstate in your Twitter profile – since hashtags are clickable when someone clicks on a hashtag on your profile – they will be taken to a list of everyone who has #OrlandoRealEstate in their profile. This would most likely be a list of your competitors. The only exception to this would be if you have a hashtag that is unique to you, and it would take them to a list of all of your tweets that only you have used that hashtag for.
2. Leverage Hashtags.
Make sure you are using hashtags that people are searching for. It’s not helpful to use a really clever hashtag if no one is searching for it.
When searching, use the native search box within the social platform. Or you can use a program such as Hashtag.org.
Make sure that you have an understanding of the proper use of hashtags on the platform that you are posting on. Different platforms have different rules.
3. Use tagging and mentioning to build relevance and to signal influencers.
Tagging and mentioning other pages and users in your content is one of the best ways to magnify your posts. When you mention or tag someone, they receive a notification, and they may be more apt to engage with or share your post with their audience. As was mentioned above, the more engagement and shares, the better reach, and more potential for driving high-quality traffic and backlinks. I would advise not to overuse mentioning and tagging as it can be annoying, and that is the last thing that you want to do with an influencer, or any follower for that matter!
Start Using Social Media to Boost SEO and Build Relationships Today
We’ve determined that if you want to have an effective digital strategy, it’s important to include SEO and social media into that strategy. One of the simplest ways to do that is to share your best content. You can do that by repurposing your blog content into social media content, and use it to build relationships.
We also discussed the three easy tips for linking your social and SEO by optimizing all of your social profiles, leveraging hashtags, and then pulling in tagging and mentions to build relevance and to signal influencers. If you have ever put together a huge jigsaw puzzle, that’s kind of what putting all of the pieces of everything we’ve talked about today is like. Sometimes it looks like two pieces fit together – but they don’t really.
Tying It All Together
Once you find all of the pieces that fit together everything runs smoothly and you will be reaching the people you want to reach, and most importantly, building those strong relationships.
Is using social media to boost SEO now crystal-clear? Share your thoughts in the comments!
