In the ever evolving world of search engine optimization (SEO), social media has become more and more important.  After all, you want your audience or customers to see the efforts of your work! Here are 6 ways social media impacts your SEO (in no particular order):

 

1. Content is still king.

Giving your audience great information to read or view will always drive them to your site. Effective social media marketing will get them there through landing pages, and more traffic means an increase in SEO.

2. Social media sites get a lot of traffic

Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube, Google+, etc. are huge websites themselves, and being an active part of them with a good following factors into your SEO. The more you can get your content shared by your followers on these sites, the better your SEO can be.

3.  Keywords.

Blending what you talk about on your site and your social media, as well as the keywords used in each will help unite your message and give search engines a cohesive set of criteria to use for your overall media. Search engines like cohesiveness.

4. “Link building” had to die.

Google used links as “votes” to rank sites, and once SEO companies started taking advantage of this to boost their clients rankings, Google was forced to use social media as the data for votes. Thus the advent of Google’s +1 that you see everywhere, and having followers share, as mentioned before, is more and more critical to your ranking.

5. Images can blow your web-stuff up.

Images tend to be the most shared content on social media, which in turn makes it a valuable part of boosting your SEO. Photographers and graphic artists can be a huge asset, but so can your users. Image content can come from a  variety of places, use them!

6. Authorship.

Google has really pushed this through Google+, and having your authors identified and linked to your website increases your page rank. It’s like having a team of horses pulling your 1 huge stagecoach instead of having multiple wagons pulled by one horse.  The 1 huge stagecoach is more organized and unified, right? That’s how Google wants your authors.

power-of-social-media

There are a wide variety of theories on increasing your SEO, but having a solid social media presence has proven to increase your traffic and marketing success. Working with a web consultant that understands how to build both SEO and social media presence can be extremely valuable to your marketing plan and bottom line.

For more information on social media and SEO, here are some additional resources:

6 Reasons Social Media Is Critical To Your SEO
socialmediatoday.com/stephaniefrasco/1901891/6-reasons-social-media-critical-your-seo

SEO & Social Media Alignment
searchengineland.com/seo-social-media-alignment-174775

18 Social Media SEO Resources to Improve Your Search Ranking
www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-seo