If you’ve dabbled in digital marketing, you surely know how important it is to cultivate a presence on social media. But did you know that how you approach social media can significantly impact the rest of your online efforts?
Unfortunately, many businesses – and even many digital marketing agencies in Australia – still think of SEO and social media as separate entities. If you aren’t taking a more holistic approach to building your brand online, you are missing out on valuable opportunities for your business.
Today, we will explore precisely how social media marketing impacts your SEO and some strategies you can use to get the most out of your social media and website.
Does social media increase your SEO ranking?
The short, somewhat misleading answer: social media does not directly affect your web page’s ranking. While there may be some correlations in terms of higher rankings and a higher number of shares/engagement, most experts argue that (at least for now) there is no proof of causation.
In the past, many believed that social signals (likes, shares, followers, comments, etc.) were considered in SEO. In 2010, Danny Sulivan interviewed Google and Bing, reporting that they used these signals in the rankings. Matt Cutts of Google later confirmed this, only to backtrack a few years later. Flash forward to 2021, and John Mueller, Gary Illyes, and other SEO experts have denounced this pervasive myth.
Of course, this is only the case for Google; Bing has been very open about social signals being a key factor. And despite Google’s denial, it is generally agreed that social media does indirectly support your SEO efforts by:
- Increasing traffic to your website
- Increasing your chance of gaining valuable backlinks
- Establishing your brand and authority
- Boosting local SEO efforts
How can I optimize my social media marketing?
You can leverage social media to maximize your online presence in several ways. Below are some of the things you should consider to get started.
Broaden your reach
There are a lot of potential customers out there – all you have to do is reach them. You can present your brand front and center by going to where the users are. And as Aussies spend a third of their online time on social media, this is the perfect place to start.
Depending on your industry, specific social media platforms may be more useful to you than others. Facebook is always certainly a good bet, considering 64% of Australians are active users, though you may want to consider others based on the demographics of your target audience. For example, Instagram is an excellent place for eCommerce, with 130 million users clicking on shopping posts to learn more.
Get to know your audience.
Social media provides a unique opportunity to get to know your potential customers: what they like, what they don’t, what they need, and what they respond to. These are some valuable insights you can then incorporate into your website content, allowing you to tailor it to your ideal clientele better.
You can use techniques like UTM tracking or unique shortened URLs to figure out where your traffic is coming from and how well each of your posts is performing.
Improve the lifespan of your content.
You put all this effort into creating a new piece of content – whether a blog, video, infographic, or another form of media – and it isn’t getting the exposure you expected.
By distributing your content through your social media channels, you’ll be able to extend its lifespan. Not only will you reach a wider audience than if you only posted on your website, but as your content makes the rounds, it is shared by others, who may then share it with their networks (and so on); it’ll last far longer than it would normally.
Content is spread more easily through social media, even if you don’t have lots of followers. By putting it out there, you’ll be able to reach people who find your offerings useful but would have never heard of you otherwise.
Social pages rank
Like anything else on the internet, social pages can be indexed. This means they can be searched for and come up in the search results if the engine determines that it meets a user’s requirements. Social pages are a great way to help you dominate branded searches and are more likely to show up on the first page of results.
Social media platforms can also be considered search engines themselves. With some referring to social media as the new SEO, many users are now bypassing giants like Google and directly searching for businesses and products via their socials. Any SEO strategy in 2021 should also consider optimizing their social media, rather than just focusing on appealing to search engines.
Take Instagram’s search function, for example. As you can see, searching for specific keywords means the platform will show you the best posts, profiles, and tags that meet your requirements. These will often be tailored to a user’s location, even if they don’t include this in the search.
By optimizing your page and extending your keyword research to your socials, you’ll be able to engage users actively seeking what you offer.
At Search Marketing Group®, we offer comprehensive digital marketing services that take into account SEO, social media marketing, content marketing, PPC, and all other facets of an effective online campaign. If you want to see how we can best implement your SEO and social media, get in touch now for a free quote!
