Does social media influence your SEO?

The popularity of social media has grown over the past decade and will continue to do so. As a business, maintaining your social media presence seems like a lot of work and you are probably questioning if it’s even worth it. Well, we are going to explain to you why.

Customers are looking for you

That’s right, customers are looking for you. Sometimes they don’t even know it’s “you” they are looking for, but when they search for a product or service you happen to provide, they should find you. SEO is about being found, so let’s make sure they can find you. So how do you do that? Good question. Traditional SEO methods of course are essential but this blog is about how social media helps your SEO. By branding yourself on key social media platforms you are helping your SEO with Google. And don’t be naive, customers want to find you on search engine results and active on social media. If they search you directly or indirectly and find nothing on your business, customers will not consider your business trustworthy and will move on. But that is not the worse, if they are searching for your business and come across another business providing the same service, well kiss that potential customer goodbye.

The best thing is to claim your profiles on relevant social media platforms. If you are not planning to maintain those platforms just yet, let your audience know in a post, a lot like a “coming soon” page on a website. Many social platforms like Twitter and Facebook let you pin the post to the top of the page. Make sure to explain why your social media isn’t actively present but that your business is and how they can reach you for service. 

How to setup your social media accounts

Once you have registered on each social media platform, you want to at least set up a few things. Use high-quality logos and fill out as much info as you can in the fields that are offered. If you have a physical location: add when you are open and contact info. It’s important to remember to make sure your profile looks professional and up to date, remember it’s all about branding, and that all platforms should look the same so people know it’s you along with the search engines.

Search Engines aren’t ignoring social media so why are you?

Google and other search engines are not ignoring social media so why are you? If you search a common business you will most likely find several social media links for that business in the search engine results. Sometimes those links even rank higher in search results than the business website, which we will table for another conversation. Here is a clear benefit of using social media as part of your SEO strategy. You can see from the example below of how social media helps find our business and helps build the brand. Just a little plug – come find Mercova Media on social media and follow us and read our reviews!

So how does social media help your website

It’s simple, the more you are online, the more you will be seen, the more you will be talked about, which makes you become more relevant. You should know by now that Google wants to share the most relevant and new content to online users and social media is a great way to do so. 

Make sure to link not just your social media platforms to your website, but link posts relevant to pages and posts on your website. Maybe you are writing an article on a particular service or product you provide, share that on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. If you have video on your website, link it to Youtube. Your content will help catch the attention of people and convince them to click and find out more which will bring them back to your website and increase your traffic.

Brand awareness is just as important on social media

We see clients all the time send mix messages to their audience about their brand; having multiple names, different logos, additional products and services that don’t go with the brand they marketed. It’s important to keep your brand clean so there is a clear understanding both to people and search engines as to who you are and what services/products you provide. 

SEO and social media, you can’t have one without the other

The fact your social media has a direct impact on your search engine rankings tells you how important social media is. Like many ranking factors, social media can help indirectly. At the end of the day, increased brand awareness, increased traffic, people interested in your content; can ultimately help the success of your website.