The effect that social media has on SEO is sometimes overlooked but as the popularity of social platforms continues to grow, so will their impact on SEO. Optimizing your profiles, posting website content and regularly engaging with your audience is essential to improving your SEO ranking. Here we’ve outlined a few ways that having a strong social presence can affect your rankings.

Driving Website Traffic

The number of website visits you have has a significant impact on how search engines view the authority and legitimacy of your website. Posting links to your website content on social channels is a proven way to drive that traffic. When it comes to promoting blogs and premium content, social channels represent your best opportunity to put them in front of your target audience.

Profiles Rank

Social media profiles rank within search engines just like any other internet page. Having the ability to get your social profiles to rank alongside your main company page will allow you to take up valuable real estate in search results. Ensure each of your profiles are optimize and that you are consistently engaging with your audience.

User Interaction Signals

Some of the key user interaction signals that are used in search engine algorithms include the times spent on your site and your bounce rate (when someone clicks on your website and immediately leaves). Another strong indication of user interaction as viewed through search engines are social interactions. The number of likes, shares and comments on your posts are a strong indicator of the quality of your content and that is one of the strongest considerations taken by search engine algorithms.

External Links

External links to your website provide the biggest impact on your search engine rankings. When you post a link to a social site it has the chance to be shared throughout your network and then potentially viewed and shared by influencers who will place your link on additional websites. It’s important that your social reach not only includes potential customers, but those who can spread your content throughout their own channels.

Brand Awareness

Social media can also impact SEO indirectly through increased brand awareness. Simply bringing exposure to your brand through social channels will improve the visibility of your brand. Be sure to take advantage of trends such as popular hashtags, upcoming events and current news stories. Be sure to promote your own events as well through your profile and relative discussion groups.

Change Is Coming

The weight that social media carries on search engine rankings is only going to increase and many experts predict they could become the most efficient way to improve your rankings. Getting ahead of the curve and developing a robust and strategic social media plan will help set you up for success. 

Founded in 1990, Winn Technology Group is a leading provider of global, multi-channel marketing solutions for the technology industry.   For both direct and channel sales, Winn supports demand creation, account-based marketing, channel management, digital marketing, social media, teleprospecting, lead nurturing, event marketing, database services, and inbound response management.  

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