Does social media have an impact on your SEO?
It's been debated for years whether your social media has a real impact on your SEO work. The arguments for and against are many, but no matter where you stand in the debate, the reality is inescapable; your social media has an indirect effect on your SEO results.
Social media thus does not have a direct influence on SEO and are not a ranking factor, but we can't escape the fact that they indirectly influence each other. With this in mind, the term 'social SEO' has emerged, which refers to the use of social media as an indirect tool to increase your visibility and ranking on Google.
It is therefore essential to consider how you can put your social media into play, as it is possible to generate lots of traffic to your website. You should also consider how your social media activity can be incorporated into your company's SEO strategy to achieve positive results for your business - conversely, you should also consider how your SEO strategy can complement your social media strategy.
SEO and social media: How to combine them
- And here are the benefits
As SEO and social media have an indirect positive influence on each other, there can be several benefits to combining the two in your strategy:
Increased traffic to your website
When you use social media, it's possible to increase traffic to your website and get results much faster than using SEO alone. For example, if you're new to the market and your website doesn't rank high on Google, it's a great idea to be active on social media (which of course it always is). This way you can expose your target audience to a lot of different posts and messages, and combined with shares etc. this is an effective way to attract more visitors to your website.
When you get more traffic to your website, it's a positive signal to Google, as Google measures user behavior, including click-through rates in search results. Increased traffic can therefore, in some cases, have a positive impact on your site's ranking on Google.
If your content is seen by a lot of people, it can also result in backlinks to your website. However, it's important to point out that these backlinks can be difficult to get, so high exposure does not necessarily equal backlinks. But if you are lucky enough to get backlinks, and you get high-quality backlinks, then in the best case scenario it can result in your site ranking better on Google as it improves your authority - and a better ranking means more traffic to your website, possibly more followers on social media etc.
Tip 1:
When you create content, it creates value to customize it for social media while taking SEO into account. You customize your social media by creating content that is based on trends, while being relevant and interesting to the target audience. In addition, you customize the content in terms of SEO by creating texts that contain the keywordsthat are related to the topic. This way, the content will be easier to find on social media (if you search there), but may also be visible on Google.
New and more ideas for your content
When it comes to creating new content for both your website and social media, there is a lot of help to be found in the opposite discipline. When creating social media posts, it can sometimes be beneficial to start with your keyword analysis (analysis of what your target audience is searching for) as it gives an indication of what kind of content your target audience finds interesting and relevant. Similarly, gathering knowledge about what your social media followers find interesting can give you an indication of what articles you should write for your blog on your website, for example.
By providing content that your target audience wants, you increase the likelihood that your content will be shared and increase traffic to your website.
Tip 2:
You can also find inspiration and trends in different groups on social platforms. In addition, Hashtags (#) can also be used to research different topics.
Increased confidence
Consumers today are overwhelmed with information, so it's important that you build trust to make it 'easy' for the consumer to make the right decision. Through SEO, high rankings on Google can give the impression of trust as it gives the consumer an indication that it's a good website. In addition, your social media can also help build trust as it allows for a different kind of interaction with the user.
Standing out from the crowd is essential to avoid falling behind your competitors. Therefore, you should make sure that all communication on your social media channels is at eye level with your target audience and that you show interest in the users who want to interact with your company. This will make it easier for each user to build trust in your brand.
The so-called 'social signals' (likes, shares and comments) on social media can also help build trust between the user and your brand. Even if social signals don't currently affect your Google ranking, it doesn't necessarily mean they never will in the future.
Tip 3:
It's important that you invest in your social media so that users feel that there is a human behind it. It's also important to invest time and resources in the users who show interest or have questions so that they receive a response to their inquiry or question within a reasonable amount of time.
Your social media profiles can rank on Google
With good and relevant content on your social media, there is a chance that your company profiles on social media will be at the top of Google's search results. The benefit is that seeing your company's presence on different platforms (e.g. LinkedIn and Facebook) increases credibility with the user. In addition, your presence and activity on other channels can also contribute to social proof.
There is no doubt that keeping your social channels updated with information and engaging content pays off, as your social media channels can attract a lot of users looking for you online.
It's also important that you create social media content that is relevant to your followers, as they are more likely to spend more time on your website - and the longer users spend on your website, the more likely it is that your website will rank higher on Google. In addition, Google values "relevance" and if the recipients find your content relevant (when they come from Google), specific topics will also rank on Google.
Tip 4:
To get users to stay on your website longer, you can (besides good content) set up conversions, pop-ups, videos, podcasts or help the user move on to other relevant content.
So is it a match made in heaven?
SEO and social media support each other really well - so they're a pretty good match! Although working with both SEO and social media requires a lot of resources, this blog post has hopefully given you the insight that you can gain a lot of benefits by working with both areas and letting them complement each other. In addition, users will also be exposed to your content much more when you are on both Google and social media, and the more times they see your brand, i.e. the more touch points you have, the better they remember your brand.
Even though Google is (and will probably remain) the dominant search engine, it's important not to forget that social media is also a highly relevant search engine. Therefore, keep in mind that even if your social media activity doesn't rank on Google's search engine, it's still a crucial factor for your business as it has an indirect influence.
In addition, it can be argued that a user who has visited your social media has interacted with your brand just as much as a visitor to your website. The trick here is to sometimes get the user over to your website as well, as this way you can nurture the user by having the right CTAs that lead the user to some of your other pages on the website.
If you want to learn more about SEO, we've created an SEO book that takes you through the key elements of an effective SEO strategy. You can download the SEO book here.
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