Do I Really Need Social Media For SEO?

Yes, you need social media to boost your SEO. Bear with me.

With ever-changing algorithms, new platforms and interfaces, and a constant stream of advice from folks who already have thousands of followers, it can be extremely overwhelming to know what the best moves are for your marketing plan. Social media is an often overlooked and undervalued avenue for increasing traffic to your website for your business. But the right social media plan can drastically increase your search engine optimization.

The first thing to know is that posting links and articles to social media platform does not directly contribute to increasing your page rank, or how high up your article is in a Google or Bing search. Google, for example, uses over 200 “indexes” to decide which web results to show you first. These indexes include a range of things, including PageRank, how authoritative a page is deemed to be, Anchor text pointing at, page HTML title tags, and whether the words you searched for appear within it. Articles and links shared on social media do not directly contribute to page rank.

Wait, so if SEO isn’t tied to social media, what’s the point?

I’m glad you asked! A comprehensive experiment conducted by Hootsuite found that while there may not be a direct link between social media and SEO, articles that are shared on Facebook and Twitter are significantly more likely to be ranked higher than articles that aren’t shared. What does this mean? That while social media is not technically one of the indexes that increased SEO, having a stellar social media plan can increase your SEO anyways.

This is because of all of the other benefits of social media that come with posting links to Facebook and Twitter. Increasing your business’s online presence, driving traffic to your website, and high visibility from multiple sources are all benefits of social media that contribute to better SEO.

Ok, so better social media = better SEO. Got it. But how can I use social media to my advantage?

Easy! Luckily for you, there are so many free tools already built into your social media platforms. Here are some of our best practices when it comes to curating an effective social media presence.

1)    Lean into scheduling your posts. Trust me, it’s worth taking a few hours here and there to get a ton of content ready to go. Set it and forget it! And whether or not you schedule posts for the week or the month, by scheduling ahead you can see the overarching tone of posts, better promote a campaign, or mix up your regular content without fear. Post a lot of news articles? Try posting a fun, informative video.

2)    Don’t be afraid to highlight your own work. Have a piece you shared that performed well? Share it again! Want to drive home a specific product? #TBT! This is not only a great way to promote your business, but it also gives your followers the chance to see your posts who may have missed it the first time due to how the current algorithms work.

3)    Boost, boost, boost. Your content can reach tons more people for as little as a few dollars a day. While this may not be a free option, just a few bucks can make a big difference in promoting your business on social media.

4)    Give us a call! Our team of social media gurus can walk you through the most effective social marketing for you and your business. We tailor our strategy to meet your needs and work round the clock to make sure you see the results you want, whether it be increased social media engagement or better SEO. Give us a call!