How social signals impact your search visibility
When trying to rank on search engine results pages (SERPs) the main focus is usually on traditional Organic SEO techniques and it’s easy to ignore how social signals impact your search visibility.
Social media is commonly recognised as an asset for increasing brand awareness but it can also be a useful way of indirectly boosting search visibility. In this post, we’ll talk you through the impact social signals has on your SEO and how you can utilise social signals to increase visibility.
What are social signals & do they affect SEO?
Hannah Matthewman, Head of Brand, says that:
“Social signals is a fancy term to describe the likes, comments, and shares and general visibility of a brand’s presence on social media.
Having good social signals from a brand point of view simply shows that you’re alive and ticking on the platforms your audience is on.
By engaging with audiences you show that your brand is living and breathing.”
It is generally believed that social signals do not directly affect SEO and have no influence on a website’s search engine rankings. There is however evidence to suggest that social signals can indirectly affect SEO.
To explain the difference between direct and indirect influence on SEO we’ve given an explanation down below.
Direct
Efforts that directly influence rankings and affect the SERPS are things like Organic SEO and PPC. Techniques involved in organic SEO like keyword research and writing high-quality E-E-A-T optimised content increased visibility and encouraged search engines like Google to rank content higher on the SERPs.
PPC or Paid Per Click is another direct influence on search visibility as the bidding of keywords boosts your page to the top of the search results.
Indirect
Social signals are considered to have an indirect influence on search visibility as although they may impact your website or brand, they will not help any content or articles rank higher on search engines.
If your social media is gaining attention through likes, reposts, and comments this may not directly influence the ranking of any content on Google but it can increase traffic to your website, click-through rate and brand awareness. This means that social signals can in fact impact your search visibility.
If Google crawls the SERPs and finds that your social signals are showing high session duration, this indicates that your page has relevant content and is valuable to users.
Although it’s difficult to determine exactly if and how social signals influence rankings, it’s impossible to ignore the value of social media in brand recognition based on recent user trends.
Social media visibility and link-building
Using social media posts for link building is another great indirect way to increase search visibility and SEO.
If a user is searching for a specific keyword term they may search for this on social media platforms like Tik Tok or Twitter. We’ll use “social signals” as an example term to demonstrate how this process works.
If you type this search term into a social media search bar it will produce the most relevant posts. Relevance is decided by the number of likes and reposts, and posts with higher interaction are displayed at the top. This means that not only do likes and reposts increase brand awareness, but there is also an opportunity to link to your website.
If a user clicks on your social media post on “social signals” there is an opportunity to add a backlink to a “social signals” blog on your web page. From here you have increased the chance of traffic to your website and specific blog posts.
If your social media post is ranking higher in the SERPs than your actual blog content, linking out to your blog in the social post can still lead to more website traffic and increased visibility.
How to improve social signals for SEO
Now you know the potential social media has on influencing SEO and rankings, we’ll give you some handy tips on how to improve your social signals.
Use Organic SEO on your social media pages
Just as you would with blogs, landing pages, and every other web page, make sure you optimise your content from an SEO perspective. Conduct keyword research and use target keywords on overview pages and main profile pages to help Google recognise the value of these pages alongside standard web copy.
Link your website and social media pages
Google is always looking for relevance and favours relevant links so it’s important to ensure your social media pages link to your website and the other way around.
In creating these clear links, Google will automatically acknowledge the relationship between your website and your social media accounts.
Upload and link to content regularly
Posting relevant content to your social media accounts on a regular basis means that you have more opportunities to draw attention to your brand and increase user engagement with those precious likes, reposts, and comments.
An easy way to do this is to link to your recently published website content on your social media platforms as soon as it is uploaded. This will increase the chances of website traffic through links as opposed to manual keyword searching from users.
Interacting with your followers and social media users is also a great way to get in some more link opportunities as well as indicate your company’s expertise and trustworthiness. Replying to any queries on social media posts with useful information linked to your website.
Even simply thanking users for reposting or commenting on feedback will help to build and portray your brand as reliable and approachable.
Hannah adds:
“There are a multitude of ways to improve signals. Some easy examples include optimising your social media pages, claiming your Knowledge Panels, and linking from your websites and social media profiles.
Beyond that, building social signals is something that is done every day. Engaging with every comment and interaction on social media is one of the best ways to grow your audience and social signals. Share other people’s content on social media too, become part of the conversion that your industry is having.”
Let Embryo increase your visibility
If you’re looking to boost your website’s rankings and search visibility, the experts at Embryo can help. We offer a range of services to help your company smash the SERP competition. We’ll provide you with strategic campaigns specific to your business needs. Get in touch with a member of the Embryo team today to help increase your brand visibility.
FAQs
Answered by Claire-Marie Wilder
What type of social content gets the most interaction?
Content builds your authority in the eyes of Google. Your Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn activity etc. isn’t exactly seen or read by Google the same as your website, however, there is a link between social signals and your website visibility. There is no rule book when it comes to social media posting. You should always look at what posts perform well and use this to guide your future strategy.
Should I try to have a presence on all main social media?
Only use the ones which suit your business. Your social content should always have an element of quality over quantity. Bear in mind if you have the resources to keep all socials relevant and up to date. Social media is meant to help with your legitimacy, which frequent posting helps with.
How many people are using social media as a search engine?
This type of searching is on the rise, especially with GenZ. Topics such as cooking videos, travel inspiration, and home decor ideas are all inspiration-led and perform well on image and video-based platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest.
