How to Use Social Media to Grow Your SEO efforts

Are you doing SEO? And are you doing SEO on social media?

Before you think “Wait what is the deal between SEO and social media, they have nothing in common,” understand that there’s a secret link between these two mediums.

You see, there’s a precise correlation exists between your business’ activities on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest or Twitter. And these activities can impact how well you position on search engines.

In fact, almost all search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing, look into your your social media networks when ranking your brand name and website a website.

Your social media channels are important indicators of whether the content you are producing is the best quality and should be ranked when people are searching.

SEO and social networks are essential elements of an organic digital marketing strategy that builds the identity of a brand.

They are intertwined, and they help your company to be at the very top of the search engine. Good social media activity can take your website and brand up in the sky!

SEO optimisation on social networks is not an easy job and requires a lot of effort and time, but the advantage of such optimisation is that it is accessible to everyone.

In this article, we will reveal how you can use your social media marketing to strengthen the search engine position of your website.

SEO and Social Media: A story that has been spinning for a long time

You surely want to be on the first page of search results when a customer is looking for what you are offering.

So, you know what pushes specific content to a good position? It’s value. How does Google’s algorithm determine this value?

While much of Google’s algorithm remains a mystery to outsiders, we do know that it is:

  • the number of people who clicked on a specific content
  • the number of links that lead to particular material located elsewhere across the internet.

Social networks aren’t the sole tool for building a search engine position (this is a brief combination of smartly constructed websites and content that is regularly restored and put in place), but they they can help you progress.

It is often a question of whether social networks have a direct effect on organic search results or whether they are linked indirectly.

There are good arguments for both sides, but what we know for sure is that Google pays attention to actions that are perfomed on social networks, such as likes, retweets, or shares.

1. Social Media Are Great for Link Building

The enormous popularity of social networking sites has made sites like Facebook, Twitter, and even Quora become respectable and authoritative brands in Google’s eyes.

What this means is if you can put your website links on to these websites, they are going ot have a positive impact on how Google ranks a website.

Social networks can be a gold mine for improving the SEO strategy that everyone is looking for, and many are not aware of.

If you link your website and social media channels – it is a sign of quality for search engines.

Link building has always been and always will be an essential aspect of SEO, and social media can indirectly lead to links.

For example, the content you publish on your website should be shared on social media networks as it is more reachable to the broad public and brings a new audience to your site.

If the level of interaction with the content on social media is high – the content will be marked as quality content, and Google likes quality content.

The search engines use social signals as a deciding factor – if your content is spreading and is shared widely across online communities – it is considered to be a sign of relevant content.

If your website and content you create has good social networking results, there is a greater chance that someone will decide to set a backlink to it – regardless of the social network.

Using social networks for link building – meaning sharing the content from your website to your social media will let users to your site and achieve interaction with it (sharing it with other users).

2. Use Social Media for Building your Audience or Followers

Social media is a place where businesses make a difference today. Today the marketplace is highly competitive, and you must put the extra effort to reach your target audience online.

Think of your social media channels as an ideal place to connect with your audience. Getting to know people with your brand is related to traffic and visitors.

Trusted brands that are recognised on social networks are more likely to be visited if people saw it in search results.

Nowadays, when most of the online users have an existing social media presence, it’s important to know which is their platform of choice.

You need to know which are the social media platforms that they are frequently on and then you work on producing social content that gets you to connect with them on a certain emotional level.

Present your brand uniquely and consistently, use the same voice and language to talk with your users daily. Post helpful articles, helpful points, and general discussion items – because people love to discuss and engage with the brand.

Make sure you follow up on these and encourage them in direct conversations.

Conversations and live customer response are the keys to build and hold an interactive community.

Regularly offer content that will result in increased following and engagement.

Because good quality and engageable content can lead to social following and this can lead to increased website traffic. And that is what we all want, right?

3. Utilise Social Media for Local Optimisation

Social networks also allow you to increase your intimacy and interact with your local community.

In this way, your business will be in better position on the web in the specific geographic location or the area where you operate.

That will help users who search for the products or services you offer on a specific location to find you among the first on the list if you are maintaining your social networking quality.

The perfect way to engage with the local community is through locally targeted posts.

Whenever you have a local event or cooperates with local brands or companies – make sure you mention and post this on social media.

If you are not a global brand or business and your activity is local – local SEO should be a top priority for you.

Social media can help attract local visitors to your website and send positive signals to search engines. Google certainly know the importance of location and its relevance to users.

With a growing number of mobile users, local searches are destined to grow.

4. Build Your Brand with Social Media

Building your brand is a vital part of any marketing campaign. With the help of social media, you can create a real relationship with your target audience.

Unique style, relatable and quality content and regular updates will make your brand recognisable.

With time and effort in your social media, your audience will remember who you are, and the content you create will become necessary to them. Moreover, they will start seeing you as a trusted source.

Upon more people becoming aware of your brand or product, more people will search for them and click on your content. And we all know that Google and other search engines give prority to click-through rates, this can significantly impact your rankings and increase your visibility.

Make the most of social media by really use them in making your brand recognisable. Social media is your perfect tool for having a brand voice that can be noticeable for your target audience.

Also, use that voice and spread it around. So, by that we mean – paid to advertise.

Sponsored posts provide an opportunity to reach a more substantial, but still focused audience. This brand awareness that you’ve to build on social media will for sure result in more organic search traffic for your pages.

Since organic traffic will provide to your rank on branded search, you SEO will have no other option than – explode.

Few tips for Successful Social Media SEO

Publish High-Quality Content

Content is the key to your search engine optimisation and is an essential part of your digital marketing success. Besides, the SEO is not what it used to be.

For this reason, if you want your social media to rank for proper keywords, you need to shift your focus to original, relevant and valuable content for your audience.

Leave behind the stories about stuffing your social content with keywords and expecting it to work itself out.

Instead, aim to produce content that organically attracts an audience (and therefore clicks) and gives them exactly what they are looking for.

Optimise Your Social Media Profiles

As a business, want your brand to be found when people are searching, right? Then optimise your social media!

Of course, by optimising, we mean– be relevant for the people that want to find you and use your product or service.

Enhance your profiles with relevant content – and make sure your profiles are consistent with your website! If you have multiple social media accounts, have a consistent image across all of them for better brand recognition.

Make sure that your info (or bio) part is compatible with your brand mission.

Remember – it is not only Google that potential customers are searching when they ’re interested in finding content about you.

Your potential customers will turn to their preferred social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, among others.

The same scenario that helps optimise your website for search crawls will work evenly powerful on your social media networks, making it easier for shoppers to find you no matter what platform they’re using.

That will result in a higher number of clicks and again, increased organic traffic.

Measure Your Performance

You are implementing all of our tips & trick and then what? Measure your actions of course! You need to know where you are going and if this is the right way.

By measuring and analysing your actions, you can get proper feedback – and then act. Cause the last thing you want is to put all your energy in the wrong direction.

With proper measuring and analysing you can understand what is working and what is not. You can decide your further moves and focus on where to improve.

Whatever is your goal – keep track the number of social media shares or social media referral you are generating – it is essential to measure the metrics that provide insight into your actions.

In conclusion

Your social media needs to be taken more seriously when thinking about SEO efforts. We must be honest, it is not a simple job, but the effort is entirely worth it.

Social media networks are no longer just a vehicle for your customers to find your website.

They need to be a critical part of SEO strategy. Putting your effort in social media, creating content that directs to your target audience, share links that are relatable to them and build your brand awareness will have an impact on SEO.

With this in mind, your organic search results will bloom, and as a result, it will create more satisfied customers.

By all means, social media is not a direct ranking factor, but if you ignore it completely, you’re making a huge mistake.

If you emphasise and notice the connection between SEO and social media, you are heading on the way to online marketing success. Social media can help with promoting your brand, earn backlinks and your overall and long-term SEO struggles.

With our advice in mind, you will have a straightforward plan to manage your social media content while boosting your SEO at the same time.

About Murray Dare

Murray Dare is a Marketing Consultant, Strategist and Director at Dare Media. Murray helps UK businesses find better ways to connect with their audiences through targeted content marketing strategies.