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SEO insiders have argued for years whether social media is a Google ranking factor. Social media is not considered an official SEO metric because Google is often not able to crawl social content. Think about YouTube videos – if you don’t add tags and transcriptions, your videos won’t contain any text Google can read, and therefore your videos will struggle to be ranked high on Google.

Google’s Matt Cutts has publicly said that social media rankings do not impact Google listings. However, sites with significant social media presence are more likely to rank higher in Google according to Search Engine Journal.

No matter what the official word from Google is, the truth is that social media can be helpful in boosting your SEO. In this video, we will take you through the 4 main ways of how social media can benefit your SEO rankings.

You can generate external links to your website by sharing good content on social media platforms such as LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a professional networking platform, and therefore people who see your content there, are more likely to use your content as professionals. For example, a person working for a marketing company might be researching ideas for their company’s next blog post. If your content on LinkedIn is relevant to their article’s topic, they might link to your website in their article, therefore boosting your SEO.

You can reach new people who might be interested in your products or services through using social media and social advertising. For example, if you create great content, your social followers might share it to their followers, who in turn might be interested and follow the link to your page. However, this needs to be done well to bring in positive SEO results. If you don’t deliver on what you promise in your social media content, and users leave your website disappointed, it can actually hurt your SEO rankings. Therefore, you should never over promise on social media.

Many websites coin in on this social media tactic, including news sites such as The Guardian. If you include social media buttons on your website, your audience will be able to see how many other people follow and share your content. This will create social proof for your website and services, and therefore your visitors will be more likely to spend more time on your site. This is because people are more likely to trust and pay attention to things other people find valuable. Your audience will also be more likely to share your content on their social media if you have social buttons on your site. If you have interesting content that speaks to your audience, people will want to spread the word about it with their networks.

Being present on social media might encourage people to think of your website as the go-to place for the service or product you provide. This is because if you have a strong presence on social media, people are more likely to be aware of your brand and have it on top of their minds. Even quite un-exciting businesses such as supermarkets can gain a new and exciting edge through a clever social media use.

Moreover, not having a reliable social media presence might scare your audience off. Often, brands and businesses which don’t have social media presence might seem unprofessional, especially if your target audience is of younger demographic. This is why you should always include at least one social media channel into your marketing strategy.

Social media can contribute to your business and improve your SEO. However, you need to use it effectively and strategically to get the best results possible. So how do you make sure you do just that? We list some great tips in our video with do’s for improving your SEO with social media, so feel free to check it out!