How do you drive traffic to your website? The answer may differ slightly depending on who you ask, but there will always be a common denominator: Search Engine Optimisation.
Competition is fierce online, so you need to have a good SEO strategy to help encourage readers to visit your site organically and boost your overall visibility and Google ranking. An integral tool to help you do so is social media.
How Does Social Media Boost SEO?
Social media is a lucrative channel in terms of raising viewership levels. This is because the links shared across multiple platforms increase brand exposure. The ability to comment, ‘like,’ and share posts means that your content viewership multiplies without you having to do anything past the initial post. The more activity that occurs around your post, the longer its lifespan will be. This helps you understand whether your post is, in fact, useful to your target audience.
Now, here’s the thing, there is more insight to be gained than just how valuable your content is perceived to be. The more activity generated, the more you increase your followers and brand recognition, and that’s the kind of information search engines use to position your website. Though Google doesn’t consider the actual number of shares or followers (that would make cheating the system far too simple), social media still helps boost your positioning in search engine results.
Why is Social Media Important?
So, it’s clear that social media positively impacts SEO, which is why the two go hand-in-hand and should both be included in your business strategy.
A large portion of information shared online is done so via social media platforms, and the key here is that it involves real people. Social media is a way of interacting directly with your target audience, and valuable information can be gained from that. It helps you to constantly tweak and improve your approach until it’s positively impacting your viewership and, in turn, your SEO.
Search engines hone in on what they consider websites of authority. The more you publish valuable, targeted content, the more you expand your following. Thus, positioning yourself as a website of authority.
In addition to this, by putting out engaging, high-quality social media content, you increase your chances of attracting the right kind of backlink opportunities. This will positively impact your Google ranking.
How to Use Socials to Your Advantage
To really take advantage of social media for SEO purposes, you need to make sure that you’re putting out the best possible content. There are a few ways to make sure you’re doing precisely that.
First of all, ensure you know what your audience wants. To give your posts further reach, you need to make sure that you understand what the reader is looking for. This is how you’ll successfully tailor your keywords and content to their needs, using language that they would during their search. You can do so by tracking the conversations being had on social media by your target audience, as well as through surveys and simply reaching out with questions.
Though you may be looking to reach a global audience, it is always worth factoring in your actual location, too. Geography is another tool in improving user experience, and search engines know that. Localised content can be extremely useful in helping to grow your audience initially. Having a solid foundation of viewers will only aid your expansion. This leads to the fact that sharing should be made easy. The ultimate goal is for as many people to come across a post as possible, and as such, being able to share it should be an effortless action.
One thing that should constantly remain a part of your strategy is measuring performance. The best way to ensure your social media activity positively impacts your SEO approach is to continually measure the former’s performance. This allows you to make improvements along the way, helping you reach and sustain your SEO goal.
