5 Ways to Use Social Media to Enhance your SEO

Are you integrating Social Media into your marketing efforts? Well, you should, because it has the power to increase your search engine ranking.

Until recently, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media marketing were seen as Jan 18two separate fields. But, thanks to the many algorithm changes Google has gone through, nowadays SEO means more than just ranking well in Google. Of course, a good keyword strategy is still paramount, but search engine optimization isn’t just confined to Google or Bing. Social Media also plays a valuable role and, if done right, it can improve your search engine ranking.

Here’s how to improve your search engine ranking using Social Media.

• SEO Means More Than Just On Page and Off Page Optimization

SEO means more than just ranking good in Google, and smart marketers know that. Due to the many algorithm changes, SEO has become more human-friendly. The number of keywords you shove into your website is not as relevant as it used to be, and Google cares more about connections and shares than it cares about keyword density.

SEO is a complex practice, integrating high-quality content from different platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and so on and so forth. According to recent data, Facebook has more than 1.44 billion monthly active users, Twitter has over 550 million accounts, and 72 hours of new video content are being added to YouTube every minute of the day. With numbers like these, it would be crazy to ignore Social Media’s power and influence on rankings.

• Link-building Through Social Media

Building links used to be difficult and time-consuming – it involved contacting other webmasters and searching for links opportunities. Nowadays, social shares are the new link building method.

Here’s an example: imagine that you are a photographer, and you’ve started a new project. You share your new project on your Social Media platforms, maybe on Instagram and Twitter. Your post gets shared 30 times on Twitter, and it gets a couple of hundreds of Likes on Instagram. A big blogger comes across your post and decides to share it as well. Then, a major publication sees the blogger’s share and decides to write an article about your work, linking back to your website. The simple fact that you’ve shared your work on Social Media led to backlinks from authority sites.

But, here’s the twist – not every post you share will help you gain links from popular sites. To be able to build links, you will need to find and create valuable and informative content that people want to share.

• A Growing Social Media Fan Base = More Search Query Volume

If you are looking for ways on how to improve your Google ranking, building a strong Social Media fan base can be a great start. With Social Media, you can reach potential customers, connect with them and build trust. It is a great way to increase brand awareness and to get more people interested in your brand.

When Google sees more and more people searching for your brand, it deduces that it is extremely popular and improves your search engine ranking.

• You Can Boost Relevant Keywords Through Social Media

You don’t have to spend exorbitant amounts of money to improve your SEO. There are simpler, smarter things you can do. For example, here’s how to increase keyword ranking through Social Media.

You probably know already how important it is to have a killer keyword strategy to make a website rank higher. But, did you know that sharing these keywords throughout your Social Media platforms can improve your search ranking? Here’s how: when creating your Social Media profiles, make sure to add as much relevant information about your business as possible, such as the name, URL, bio, contact information and your primary keywords.

Using your keywords when you are posting content across Social Media is another great way to improve your keyword ranking.

• Social Media Platforms Are Search Engines, Too

Nowadays, people don’t use just Google or Bing to look things up. Think about it, if you are looking for information about a brand, it is entirely possible you will be using Facebook’s search option and scroll through their posts to get an idea of how trustworthy the brand is. Furthermore, platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and even Facebook use hashtags to monitor how many times a post is being shared, or a word is being looked up and so on.

As search engines become more and more human-friendly, and social media is becoming popular, a marketing strategy integrating the two of them is paramount. Both of them matter, and they can help you improve your search engine ranking.

Corey Jansen is from Executive SEO Inc a leader in search engine optimization corey@executiveseoinc