Social Media and SEO Correlation
Two major studies were recently released showing correlations between website positions in Google search results and various ranking factors. In both studies, one of the most significant correlations was between social media signals and high website rankings.
It should be noted that the study highlighted correlation, not causation. So, while we can’t say that social media directly caused the high rankings, we do know that there is very likely a strong link.
Social Media Indexing
The extent to which Google crawls most social media sites is unknown. For example, a Google search will turn up Facebook pages/profiles, but will not turn up individual posts. But, we do see that there are ranking correlations with social indicators. What appears to be happening is that Google is noticing what content people are reading, liking, and sharing. Google sees the popularity of these sites and uses it as a factor in its ranking algorithm.
The other high-probability scenario is that as content is being shared, more people are seeing it, and more people are linking to it. Backlinks are still (and will be for the foreseeable future) an incredibly important ranking factor. Getting your content out to as many people as possible means a higher degree of probability that other people will link to it.
Key Takeaways
- Now, more than ever, you need to be present on social media. This is only expected to grow as a ranking factor with Google. Understand that if your business is not engaging people on social media, you are becoming increasingly irrelevant.
- You need to be well connected. It’s not enough to simply post on social media, you need to have an audience as well. People need to see your content, share it, and link back to it. Start making connections.
- Google+ is more important than any other social media site. Yes, this is probably a tactic by Google to promote it’s own assets. Google+ is not even close to the most popular social network, but it has the highest correlation to high search engine rankings, so make sure that you have a Google+ page, a personal Google+ profile, and a +1 button on your website.
If you’re interested in the full studies, you can find them here:
Moz Ranking Factor Study
Searchmetrics Ranking Factor Study
Then go here and let us know how we can help you.
