How to Fine-Tune Your SEO Strategy with Social Media

Experts have confirmed that social media presence will not directly influence the SERP algorithm or rankings. An indication of influence is not causation, so we have yet to determine a direct link between social media initiatives and SEO results. What we do know is that studies have found an indirect but positive effect on search rankings based on social media initiatives and directives.

A social signal experiment run by CognitiveSEO showed that 50 tweets boosted site ranking by 2.88%, and 70 Facebook shares sent it up by 6.9%. Looking at Google, an increase in votes and followers also shot the site ranking up by 9.44% and 14.63%, respectively. This data helped them determine that shares, likes and comments are vital signals used by search engines to rank websites and their components. Therefore, a high number of shares indicates quality content, allowing particular sites to have a superior position among others. When you partner optimized content with consistent engagement, brand exposure increases and can influence search engines to affect your ranking.

Although Google has yet to confirm its use of social media metrics, the debate over its influence on search rankings remains. A 2020 finding from SEMrush cited that more people sharing your content on social media helps generate social signals, authority and credibility for your target market. These signals then strengthen the factors considered for ranking your site. Going a step further, accumulating these signals will ultimately increase your visibility and SEO ranking.

The likeliness of social media completely transforming your SEO efforts may be unconfirmed, but you can still expect your brand search rankings to benefit from prioritizing your social media presence.

Here are a few initial methods to navigate through to gain social media success and influence your SEO results:

1. Curate Optimized Content

We always circle back to this debate: quality or quantity? We will cover consistency below, but ultimately quality reigns supreme for Google search results and other engines. In fact, E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness) is the short form used by Google when evaluating site quality.

When gathering materials for social media or SEO integrations, a best practice is to refine information through continuous improvement to provide well-researched and relevant content marketing to your ideal reader.

Try finding your best-performing blog posts and rework them to include data to help initiate engagement on social media. This method will also increase your authority score and ultimately boost rankings. Social media can be the anchor that places your refreshed content in front of search queries with matching intent.

2. Prioritize Consistency Across All Channels

You published optimized content, and the data matches your on-site goals. Now what?

The next step is using social media to leverage your SEO results for the long run. Brands are encouraged to use social networks as a medium for interconnectivity and consistent updates. Users may have found your content informative, but now they’re on the hunt for more engagement opportunities.

By becoming available through social media and the different platform elements, brands can build relationships off-page that trigger users to return to the initial call-to-action. Not only does this increase authoritativeness, but it helps retain the attention of those initially attracted to the insightful and relevant content.

Here is an example from SEMrush via their Twitter account:

3. Make Your On-Site Content Shareable

Social Media and SEO initiatives both aim to reach a broader audience for brand awareness and lead generation. One vital content marketing tool is optimizing visual materials to elevate a brand's online presence. Encourage users to share your content across social channels and improve your search results and SEO campaign by maximizing the quality of your photos.

Once the visuals are refined, place your focus on crafting relevant and compelling copy for captions. By addressing specific topics and delivering resourceful information, you become an authority on subjects you want to rank.

The 80/20 rule is one widely acknowledged by industries worldwide. This traditional marketing tactic relies on the idea that 20% of your content should be promotional, while 80% is for educating, informing and entertaining. Brand Muscle advocates for this rule using data showing primary motivations for using social media. Demographics show most users are under 25 years old and heavily rely on their content to be entertaining, informational and opportune.

4. Build Solid Relationships Through Active Engagement

Establish trust and credibility with your audience by fostering relationships through ongoing engagement. As mentioned by SEMrush, your marketing persona doesn’t need to be fully developed before interacting with users.

By jumping into the conversation, you gain intel on the target buyer, their interests, and what they think of your brand. Go further by creating polls, responding to comments, hosting Q&A sessions or asking for opinions.

Take advantage of the positive and negative results by improving your SEO services and campaigns based on the information you can attain. This method should increase your expertise in the industry while growing engagement, followers and ultimately ranking on the SERP.

5. Refine Your Social Media Profiles

A commonly missed step with social media initiatives is the optimization of brand profiles. Consider your online presence as the resume you show potential clients or partners. Having well-optimized social profiles across different platforms triggers the attention of your target market and prospects. While reviewing your brand's online presence, ask yourself

1. What appears when people search for the brand?
2. Who is this content likely to attract, and why?
3. Does this profile clearly explain the services/products offered?

Social profiles should be consistently reviewed and optimized for freshness and prominence. Giving your audience a purposeful understanding of the brand adds to your authority ranking and ultimately signals Google search results. Your goal should be uniformity with your blog, site and brand message.

The nature of social networking sites and SEO tools for social media remains indefinite among marketing experts. We know there is a relation between social efforts and SEO results, but even the most recent data fails to establish clear causation. In the meantime, we can rely on following these initial methods to influence ultimate position or relevancy online. Reach out to us to take control of your SEO rankings.