No one can deny the power of social media when it comes to the distribution of information and make any person and anything famous. What is trending in social media easily gets reported on TV news. Although some people snub them and even consider them toxic, they are only very few. Social media can easily nudge TV, radio and even newspapers off the top spot where people prefer to get news and information. You may even be one of those who spend your time mostly on social media than actually going out to meet people.
It’s no wonder the best SEO Canada companies have set up social media accounts to take advantage of the ease in marketing social media brings. It’s a lot easier to reach your desired audience and even get them to share your content with just a little nudge, such as holding contests on the most number of likes and shares. When it comes to search engine optimization or SEO, however, does social media help? Do the shares really affect a certain company’s ranking on Google? If you spend some time promoting your product on any of the social media giants or are yet considering to do so, you might as well want to know what it could do for your search engine ranking, if that’s one thing you’re serious about improving.
Some experts say no
While social media could affect your SEO, it isn’t yet clear cut. You may be surprised to know that some experts would even call using social media to aid your SEO a waste of time. Google even says that social media isn’t a direct ranking factor. As personal identity is considered not to have much authority, profiles on social media can’t be analyzed for authority, expertise or even trustworthiness, compared to a domain. Any user can easily pose as an expert on social media and can simply copy and paste any story. The sharing of a link is easy, with just a click, compared to citing a story or information along with the source in a blog post, for example.
Why social media may work
All hope’s not lost when thinking of using social media to boost your SEO efforts, however. If your enthusiasm has been diluted somehow, the next things that will be mentioned may pique your interest once again. Social media, anyway, has proven itself to be a great weapon to increase exposure. While, as stated above, it may not directly affect your search engine ranking, It would be a waste to right away discard what it can do.
Ever heard of Bing?
But wait. Don’t close the door just yet, because maybe those likes and shares can do something to your Google ranking, though indirectly. Also, there are other search engines, not just Google. You may want to know about Bing, which may not dominate the search queries as Google does, but its hold or popularity is pretty decent, and the likes and shares you get from social media directly affect the ranking you would have in this search engine.
The human element
SEO may be more technical, but it doesn’t leave real persons out. Social media can provide the “human touch” that brings real-world results. While you can focus on the technical nature, it won’t be able to keep you on top for long compared to the efforts of someone who focused on creating valuable content. Social media helps you identify your target audience and get to know them better. You will be able to track the distribution of your content and find out who is interested and how it affects them. Social media can easily get people to talk about your content. It’s also easier to get feedback through social media.
The power of sharing on social media
Among the greatest advantages of social media is the ease of sharing. In fact, sharing is the whole point of social media. These online communities were constructed to get one person to share anything they deem interesting and useful to many people. And when one person shares your content on social media, it would eventually reach another person who would share it to his or her own contacts, and the cycle goes on, even drawing in people to use the link on their own blogs or websites. This brings more visibility to your content. The more people share your content on their chosen social media, the more users will link to it. A content that is shared by numerous people on their social media accounts could help you get a top search position for a certain target keyword.
Links found on social media are nofollow links. However, if an article is directly shared on social media from your website, Google can deem it helpful for users. So while having lots of shares on social media won’t do much on your search engine ranking, it can be used to boost your content’s value. Getting more than a thousand shares of your content on social media may not bring an equivalent authority of — say, 1,000 links — the increased social distribution or exposure means that you’ll be drawing more attention from possible customers. Who knows, you may also have a chance to get linked from a reputable site.
Never underestimate what earning more social media followers can do.
Content can get indexed quicker
Publishing good content on social media regularly can be great for your web marketing Vancouver efforts. If your contents are relevant enough, search engine spiders can crawl on your social media posts and get them indexed, as in the case of searching for Oprah Winfrey content. Plus, if your blog post draws quite a buzz and gets people talking about it on social media, it will get indexed quicker, as the search engine spiders can easily find your content when it goes viral.
Building your website’s authority
Social media is great for content distribution. If you focus on a certain network of social media followers, it will draw more like-minded followers. With an engaged and loyal social media following, you will be able to get backlinks from, for example, blogs that focus on your chosen subject, telling search engines that your content is getting to the intended readers. This gives weight to your site’s authority, as your content gives readers what they are looking for, giving you backlinks, which translates to positive votes for ranking.
The sharing of your content on social media can indirectly boost the authority of your website as well as its search ranking. The more people you get to attract to read your content, the higher the chance to earn backlinks. And as new readers prefer social media, you’d have the opportunity to be able to snag their interest as well, maybe not right away but maybe in the near future. The influence of social media continues to grow at an amazing, wedging itself into almost everyone’s daily life. What makes it even a good way of promoting your content is that it is a place where interactions between real people are encouraged.
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