6 Ways Social Media Can Boost Your SEO

Every business owner wants to see their website climb the Google rankings, gaining prominence and visibility among shoppers and potential customers. There’s no simple formula for achieving this kind of search engine success; Google’s algorithms are famously complex, fairly mysterious, and subject to frequent change.

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What we do know is that the algorithms take into account a number of different “ranking factors” to determine the position of your online content. Google has offered at least some measure of clarity about what these ranking factors include, and as of right now, social media isn’t one of them. To be frank, social media does not have a direct impact on your search engine rankings.

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And yet, to say that social media and search engine optimization (SEO) are unrelated would be a huge error. On the contrary, social media can be a powerful tool for boosting brand exposure, and for getting people to share and discuss your content on the Web. Indirectly, that has a huge impact on search engine position.

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How Does Social Media Improve SEO?

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Specifically, there are a few different ways in which social media elevates search engine rankings. Consider:

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1. Vast content distribution. Sharing your company blog posts or videos on Facebook and Twitter may not qualify as an official ranking signal, but it does signal to the search algorithms that the content you’re creating is useful to a wide audience. Creating perceived utility is always a good way to boost the SEO potential of your posts.
2. Longer lifespan of your content. Similarly, sharing content on social media can keep it in front of readers, and even generate social shares, for a longer stretch of time, demonstrating to the algorithms that your content has “evergreen” potential.
3. Improved organic traffic. Anything you can do to send more organic traffic to your website will ultimately help with conversions… and with SEO, as well. Again, it’s an important signal to Google, indicating that people find your site to be relevant and useful. Social media can be a powerful traffic referral tool.
4. Increased brand recognition. Another reason to share content on social media? It makes your brand more easily identifiable among Internet users, which in turn bolsters your authority with the search engines.
5. Enhanced reputation. An active social media presence shows your customer base that you’re ready and willing to interact with them on the Web, providing information and even customer service as needed. This can boost your brand’s reputation, another indirect way of conveying your value to search algorithms.
6. Local search activity. If you’re able to post about local events specific to your community, that can go a long way toward signaling to Google the geographic base of your business… which may ultimately be helpful in enabling you to rank for local searches. For businesses with a brick-and-mortar location, this is invaluable.

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Improve Your Social Media Presence. We’re Happy to Help.

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Regular, high-quality social media activity can ultimately be a boon to your online visibility. It can also take a lot of work, to say nothing of careful strategy.

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We’re here to help. We’d love to tell you more about Grammar Chic’s comprehensive social media management solutions. Reach out for a FREE consultation: Visit www.grammarchic.net or call 803-831-7444.