How Social Media Affects Your Google Rankings

Encourage Social Sharing | Social Media Reputation | Social Shares & Backlinking | Maintain Your Presence

When it comes to improving your ranking on search engine results, it’s a known fact that content updates are king. The more quality content you add and more frequently you update existing content can make all the difference. But just increasing the number of keywords used in content isn’t going to move the needle anymore. So how do we get our content found by Google and continue to rank on the first page of search results?

Content distribution and sharing have changed within platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Conversations now happen instantly and your social media followers can see and participate in them. Engagement is now measured through metrics such as comments, shares, tagging, and hashtags. The Google algorithm has and continues to evolve with the social media landscape and now tracks engagement, conversations, and social shares. Having a consistent social media presence now plays an important role in maximizing your website’s SEO and ranking higher on the Google search results page.

Encourage Social Sharing to Make your Content Easier to Find

Google continuously evolves its algorithm and is constantly looking for ways to better interpret and distinguish quality content to display on search results pages. Google must filter through all content, determine the content that is authoritative and high quality, and index it so that it is displayed in the search engine results. Google now looks at how many times a social media post has been shared, who is posting it, and when it was posted to decide what to index first. The quicker the content gets indexed, the faster it shows up on the search results page. Don’t forget to link to your social media profiles from your site’s homepage and incorporate social sharing on your blog posts.

Social Media Reputation and Site Authority

Having consistently updated and well-engaged social media accounts on multiple platforms can improve your reputation and social equity in Google’s eyes. Building your reputation across your social media platforms, engaging with your followers, and sharing relevant content not only benefits your brand but also signals to the Google algorithm that you’re the authority in your industry. When the Google algorithm recognizes your social media presence as a trusted source, you’ll likely see a boost in your SEO rankings.

Social Shares and Backlinking

Originally, the number of links coming back to your site (backlinks) was the main factor in deciding if your site was relevant and contained current content. You could ensure higher rankings on Google by populating your website with mass amounts of keywords and inbound links from other sites. However, instead of just looking at how many times your URL appears on other sites, Google now also takes into account how many times your URL appears in social media posts, likes, comments, and shares, in order to rate the authenticity of your site and content.

Maintain Your Presence

Make the most out of all of the social media platforms that impact your business the most by maintaining a consistent presence and tailoring your content specifically to each platform.