You may be accustomed to content marketing, social media, and building SEO as three separate concepts aimed towards achieving overall success, but what if we told you that you can do all three at once? Due to changes at Google, the three work in unison in building relations and increasing traffic. SEO is no longer only about keyword research and linking, but it now also includes profiling and page content.

 

Is your business struggling to make its’ way to the top of Google’s search engine results? If so, this blog is aimed towards helping you better understand what SEO is specifically and how social media plays a huge role in helping your business receive the recognition it deserves.

 

SEO EXPLAINED

Search Engine Optimization, SEO, is the process of obtaining high visibility in a search engine’s results. Google itself has an algorithm that they use to assess websites and their content. Recently Google has undergone some algorithm changes by means of establishing a more human feel, thus they now take into consideration the type of content you distribute as well as the keywords you use with them. The algorithm itself is rather extensive but can be divided into two distinct categories; relevance and authority.

 

GOOGLE’S ALGORITHM: RELEVANCE & AUTHORITY

Did you know that proving that your business is authentic on your social media accounts actually ranks you higher on the Google search engine? Your credibility as an established company as well as your social media influence are all taken into consideration when Google determines your business authority. This means including content that is relevant to the service you offer, reaching a variety of viewers on your feed, and increasing content resonance which we will cover more when we discuss content indexation later on.

 

GOOGLE’S PREFERENCE: GOOGLE PLUS

Since Google has their own social media platform, having a good Google+ presence is incredibly important to increasing SEO. So be sure to pay extra attention to your Google+ profile and stay engaged with people in your circles to ensure that your content appears higher on Google’s search engine. You may think it sounds silly for Google to play favoritism over their own social media platform but in actuality, Google+ is just a simpler way for Google to gather keywords and content for their algorithm.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA’S ROLE

Social media has become increasingly popular in recent years and is easily the fastest way to market businesses today. With the ability to advertise to people worldwide in a variety of different contexts, social media helps businesses grow in followers at a significant rate. Social media has revolutionized how people communicate with one another entirely and because of that Google began incorporating social media into their algorithm. Now nearly everything you do on social media impacts your SEO and the potential for your business to be recognized.

 

KEYWORD USAGE

How you use keywords matters just as much as the keyword itself; use keywords to answer questions that your consumers might be asking. In order to do this, put yourself in the shoes of someone who would search for what your business offers on Google. Instead of using stand-alone keywords like, “pain management” try using questions like, “What is the best pain management center in Las Vegas?” Doing this exercise will help you better reach your intended audience on search engines as using keywords can create multiple listings for your company. Using keywords in your content on social media has it’s own SEO benefit as well as social media sites have a higher authority ranking as mentioned above.

 

LINKING

Social media sites are frequented by people of all ages and demographics, therefore linking on them can increase your business’ SEO significantly. Linking on social media sites is said to generate a lot of traffic through search engines. For instance, when linking to or from social media platforms your content bounces all around the web through those links directly. Instagram is notorious of this as each individual hashtag acts as a link. Google search engine uses what are called, social signals by means of getting links.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILES

Every social media platform contains a profile specifically designated for information about a business. Generally there is a spot for your company name, your address, and phone number. There will also be an about section where you summarize who you are as a company, what you stand for, and the type of service you provide. What you may not be aware of is that Google relies on reviews of social media profile for businesses made by third-party sites. Which means that completely filling out your social media profile with not only the required but the additional information improves the visibility of your company’s social media accounts.

 

CONTENT INDEXATION

Content on social media is only as good as the creative idea behind it. Therefore, in order for content to truly make a difference when it comes to advertising on your social media accounts, it must truly stand out. Your content should inspire your viewers to like, comment, share, re-post, or re-tweet! Search engines index content based on how much attention they have generated in likes, comments, shares, etc. so that people can easily find them when searching for it. Below you will find six tips to improving your content and increasing their likability.

• Add emotional and sentimental value.
• Tell stories that are relatable and compelling.
• Stay at the top of your viewer’s mind with valuable content.
• Share infectious content that is likely to spread.
• Be informative and promotional.
• Include your website or social media URLs.

Remember that it is just as important to reveal the more personal side to your business as it is to incorporate the professional side and make sure to keep an equal balance of the two. Lacking a personal touch lowers client engagement and likability but lacking professional service lowers growth and sales. Having a balance of both leads to clients who buy your product/service and rave about your customer service to their friends and family.

Social signals include; comments, shares, likes, tweets, etc. So not only does your activity on your social media accounts matter, but your viewers’ activity matters as well.

 

Now that you know the key components to increasing your search engine optimization through social media – get to it! It’s not enough to use the right keywords, included valuable content, and share links; you must also actively engage with your viewers. Here is a brief overview:

• Include valuable keywords.

• Link everything you can to anything you can.

• Fill in every field of your social media profiles.

• Promote your content regularly.

• Encourage likes and shares to increase SEO.

• Engage with your audience.

And there you have it! Take away the hassle and hire Social Media LV to do this all for you!