Social Media SEO: What Managers Need To Know To Grow 

Most companies and businesses have fully embraced SEO as a must-have marketing strategy. But for some reason, they ignore the potential of social media SEO. Given the reasons for it, it is understandable. Creating quality content needs time, effort, and technology that many businesses don’t have. Without it, there is no point in investing time and resources in social media SEO. 

Also, it is not a bulletin board where you add images and articles. It is about building images, sharing content, earning trust, and more. But if this is not done, businesses will miss out on their superpower. That is because social media SEO can boost the performance of regular SEO. 

This article covers everything about social media SEO and growing a business.  

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Defining Social Media SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is critical for online marketing. It helps find businesses online. Content ranking higher on search engine results can attract more visitors. But all this depends on the right strategy. SEO works well as a stand-alone tactic. But complementing it with social media SEO can boost search engine rankings leading to more website traffic and conversions. 

In a small business or startup, you will find that the same manager usually handles SEO and social media. But in bigger companies, different teams handle SEO and social media. Sometimes instead of an in-house marketing team, businesses hire agencies. But the main point is that none of these teams should work in silos. The social media manager’s skills should not just be relegated to ideating and posting. It should involve much more.  Intercommunication between various teams in any business will reap great benefits. To be able to use and assess social media SEO, you will need to employ both social media and SEO tools. 

The Impact of Social Media on SEO

Is social media a ranking factor in search engines? This is a common question that digital marketers get about SEO and social media. From a technical viewpoint, social media does not change SEO ranking. But from a practical perspective, it does. Sharing links and content across various social media platforms expands digital exposure. It also helps gain a better brand presence. 

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Such content influences SEO in the following ways:

• Longer lifespan of the content
• Wider distribution of content
• Increase in organic traffic
• Better visibility of the brand online
• Boosting brand reputation and recognition
• Local search engine optimization gets a boost

How do you recognize the above if it does not influence Google rankings? Through social signals. Social signals are actions social media users take through links or content on the business website. The action can be in the form of reposts, shares, comments, or likes. When users perform more actions on the content, it shows that the content is relevant and useful. This indicates that the content is of high quality and easy to understand. In turn, it can help boost search engine rankings. 

So even if your social media content is not an official factor for search engines’ algorithms, it does carry a lot of weight as all the user actions generate backlinks. This tells the search engines that the website contains the content that users need.  

Here is how it affects SEO:

• If social media users find the content useful, there is more active engagement. The post gets shared and liked more.
• The business’s social media profiles get new followers. There are more discussions, sharing, and other activities, increasing traffic to the website.
• The audience for the brand grows, and over time, it becomes an online community.
• Interactions on social media and SEO help boost online presence and brand reputation.  
• This leads to search engines like Google ranking the website higher.
• A high rank with keywords with good search intent can lead to more traffic. In turn, this can lead to more conversions.

Hence, combining an effective social media strategy and quality content can work wonders. It not only helps rank better but can help build a community of followers. It can also increase loyal customers and brand advocates, which is the ultimate goal. So, start by creating unique and interesting content. Ensure it serves the audience’s needs.

The Importance of Connecting Social Media With SEO

Many marketers have opted for social media as their primary promotional platform. That is understandable, given that millions of people use this channel daily. High-quality content leads to more likes, comments, clicks, and shares. It translates to more users. But it is wise not to undermine the role of SEO in ensuring long-term results. Likewise, businesses should not underestimate social media’s impact on SEO. They are less tangible but part of a marketing plan’s “big picture.” Hence, it is important to connect the two. 

Connecting the two strategies helps in a myriad of ways.

1. Linking website content to social media platforms drives more traffic.

Informative and quality posts are more likely to perform well on social media. This can lead to more users sharing, resharing, liking, or commenting on the post. This translates to more users following the link to the website. When there is more website traffic, it leads to better rankings on search engines. When there are more visitors, it may lead to conversion and sales.

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To ensure this strategy works for you, create quality content. Focus on the interest, need, or want of an audience. Use every opportunity to share the content on various social media platforms. Use social media SEO tools to track, measure, and improve your strategies. 

2. Business social media profiles rank higher in SERPs.

Effective use of social media can make business social media profiles rank better. This works just like standard website rankings. So, high-quality brand content with a social media presence could help dominate SERP. 

So whether it is the first or the seventh result, the user sees the brand you are marketing. It is also an apt way to push competitors out of the top 10 rankings and away from the target audience. 

As a marketer, ensure you use as many social media platforms as possible. It is also critical to ensure all profiles are active and up-to-date. Also, maintain consistency when creating brand content. The tone and strategy should be the same across all social pages and websites. It also ensures a cohesive experience no matter what the user chooses.

3. Earn backlinks that are important for boosting rankings

Backlinks are one of the essential ranking factors for search engines. Building a portfolio for backlinks is an important digital marketing strategy. Expert digital marketers create social media pages that have interesting content. That makes the users more likely to link the business website on their blog posts or websites. 

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When the social media user links it as a share, reference, etc., it makes for a natural backlink. To make this strategy work for you, create high-quality content. That is more likely to build natural backlinks to help with SEO.  

Why Social Media and SEO Teams Should Work Together For Success

SEO improvements need support from social media promotions. The two teams should not work in a silo. They should have a unified strategy. The current digital landscape favors this combination. Any business wanting to succeed online must boost its digital presence. Growing online brand presence can lead to higher ROI. 

But to do so, it is essential to understand that SEO and social media marketing go hand-in-hand. Both help each other despite following different techniques. So for brand success, one critical social media manager skill is collaborating with the SEO team.

A Quick Summary

Social media and SEO are interconnected and are part of the same broad strategy. While you can learn a lot from SEO and social media individually, they do wonders for your business when put together. Understanding how they work together and implementing them in your daily strategy is a great way to boost your website and its ranking on SERPs and visibility to consumers.  

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