3 things to consider for your Social SEO Strategy
Most brands and businesses are using SEO as a way to increase quality traffic to their site, through search engines – particularly Google & Bing Search. Traditionally, it has been about keywords and ensuring that the content on your website is of high quality and relevant to your audience. The relationship between social media and SEO has always been murky – Google in particular has never given a clear answer as to whether there’s a link. But as social media marketing and SEO practices develop, so does the relationship between the two.
1) Sharing on social channels
Both traditional and Social SEO rely on building links to improve ranking. The method of this is simple: you need relevant, shareable content on your site. Traditionally, this would be shared on other sites and linked back to the original content. The same method goes with social SEO – if the content is good enough, people are going to be sharing it with their followers – once again boosting website traffic.
This works in two ways – firstly, website traffic increases. Secondly, your ‘social authority’ will increase, meaning your social accounts will rank higher in search. Leading us nicely into the next point…
2) Social media channels rank
I don’t know about you, but if I want to look up a brand, I almost always search for them on social channels rather than look at their website. Social channels are a slightly more personal, casual channel for brands, so it’s often a good place to look if you want to find out what a brand’s really like.
You’ll notice if you search for a brand, their social channels will often appear in ranking.
Another important reason for this is the automated Google ‘profile information’, which typically pulls info from Wikipedia. If your social channels are connected with your brand, your brand’s accounts will be showcased in this box.
3) Social channels work as search engines too
The role of social is always developing. People are relying more on social channels than ever before, for things including news updates and more recently, search.
This means brands need to work harder to improve social rankings in search:
- Think keywords! Your social posts should have searchable keywords in the post copy to appear in relevant searches
- Searching for brands on social can be awkward due to multiple accounts – brands need to make sure their official accounts are clear. This can be done by clear labeled accounts (brand or customer service accounts) and clearing up profile images. Getting a verified tick is also a great way to do this, however can sometimes be difficult.
Working on your social SEO can improve your ranking and site traffic, and in the future, practices are likely to develop even further. If you have any tips for improve social SEO, tweet us @iSocial or @rubyl0ve.
By Ruby Lowe