Is “improving the search ranking for your website or blog” on your ongoing to-do list? You are not alone! While you’ve likely done plenty of search engine optimization (SEO) efforts in the past year, have you looked to social media? If done correctly, it can help. It’s becoming more important to rely on this strategy as the online business world continues to move forward. Are you ready to get more mileage out of social media? Let’s do it!
Social Media Strategies to Help Boost Search Visibility
In his Social Media Examiner article “7 Ways to Improve Your Search Rank With Social Media,” John Jantsch explains why social media is an important SEO tool, even if it’s still in progress of impacting your website via search engines. While as of right now social signals (likes, retweets, pins, shares, follows) don’t factor into search results, the value is predicted to continue to grow and matter more.
If that alone doesn’t sell you, consider the indirect impact. For example, social media is one of the largest and most powerful ways to build your online community. When you have a large online presence, you indisputably strengthen your reputation, your credibility, and your presence amongst the competitive landscape.
In terms of your website traffic, social media can absolutely help you there. For instance, if you have a large community of real and engaged users that are motivated to click through to something on your website, you will see the numbers. These users are also likely to share your content to others, further boosting your credibility to other people and Google.
In boosting website clicks via social media, try out these strategies the author discusses:
Snip the word count: If you want the attention of people, make it to the point and short! In fact, research shows that “paragraph-long Facebook copy is 2-6 times lower than updates that are approximately 40 characters long.”
Spell it out: If you want people to do something specific, tell them what it is! Your call to action is critical to achieving the results you want. If you are looking for likes, follows, or retweets, make it crystal clear what they should be doing.
Give people incentive: If you want your audience to complete a click through, you need to hold up your end of the bargain. Instead of selling to people, connect with them. For example, talk about the problems that many people within your target base face, and how/why you are providing the solution. When you are truly helping people, they will be more than excited to follow through (in form of website clicks) to uncover the good news!
Give social media a search engine spin: If you want to be found, you need to ensure that your posts are built with discoverability functionality. While social media posts don’t directly contribute to your site’s search rankings (they have a “nofollow tag” that makes search engines ignore the origins), social media platforms do rank search results on keyword strength. In building your social presence with an SEO mindset, you can do several things to help your cause, further explored below.
Optimize profiles for keyword searches: Put your most important keywords in the most important places. This includes your profile, links, headlines, photo captions, summaries, and every other possible touchpoint. If you have smart keywords in all the places it matters, you will attract the right people (often new customers) during a search.
Optimize keyword copy: It only takes one post with the right hashtag to attract a new potential follower. Once they find you on social media, take a look at your profile and deem you useful, you may get some website clicks (and sales). Since there is potential power in that, be sure to use the right words to become easier to find!
Drive content creation with keywords: Aligned with your marketing strategy, build your social media content with the specific keywords that can potentially influence your search engine visibility.
Don’t lose sight of backlinks: If you put effort and top-notch quality into social media posts, you have the potential to create resources that people want! For example, if you create a must-have reference, it could show up on different blogs, publications, or even ebooks. As you show up in more places, you will build more backlinks to your social media homes and websites, boosting your authority big-time.
Is Social Media Going the Distance for You?
While it may take a minute for social media to directly impact website search rankings, it is undoubtedly important to your brand. Right now, your social media should be an extension of SEO and it’s a powerful inbound marketing tool to increase the depth and breadth of your community.
Do you think social media impacts your overall SEO strategy and website traffic? If so, what strategies did you employ to make this more successful for you?
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