Social SEO: Social Media and SEO
Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2024 9:13 am
As we all know, there are hundreds of factors that directly or indirectly affect search engine results. The number and quality of links, URL structure, content structure, up-to-dateness of content, which keywords are used, title tags, etc. are among the most well-known factors. Recently, social media has become increasingly important. Comments, shares, and like rates from social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ have an increasing impact on search engine ranking results. However, since it does not have a direct effect like backlinks, this situation has brought about some different judgments.
In this article, I will first talk about the effect of the most used social media accounts on search engines in general. Then I will introduce you to both positive and negative opinions. I will then state my own opinions and conclude my article by talking about the future comments on the effect of social media on SEO.
Twitter and SEO
Twitter, as you know, is a microblogging service with the most active and numerous users. You can make your sharing visible only to your personal Twitter network or to all users, as desired. What is important here is that important signals such as the number of favorites or RTs can be seen by the search engine. According to Google's guidelines, we can say that Google values constantly shared links. In addition, Google gives links a weight that varies depending on the person tweeting. For example; a link shared by a person with more than 1000 followers does not give the same value to a link shared by a person with less than 100 followers. In Google's eyes, the former is more valuable.
Google+ and SEO
Google+ is a social network created by Google. Here, it is of great importance that it was created by Google. It is necessary to develop the Google+ profile as if you were optimizing a site. For example; When homeowner database editing the About section, you should explain your business in as much detail as possible. In other words, it should include important keywords and there should be a link to the website. In addition, the number of people in your circle is also important. As the number of people in your circle increases, you become more reliable. Of course, increasing the number of people is not a situation that will happen quickly, as in other social accounts, time is required at this point.
Linkedin and SEO
Linkedin, like Google+, is a social media tool that triggers the increase of your credibility. Your number of connections and your current sharing are important. Again, you can explain your business by including important keywords. Just as content is important in the optimization of a site, the content you describe yourself and share is important for Linkedin.
Facebook and SEO
Yes, we have come to the social media tool I really want to get to; Facebook. As you know, Facebook is a very popular social network. User actions (sharing, liking) are signals for search engines. Facebook now has a big share in marketing. Whether it is advertisements given through Facebook or posts made to increase awareness; a large user base can be easily reached through Facebook. While it is a platform that increases brand awareness and user base on one hand, it is also a platform that brings together customers of different companies and you with your own customers. I would like to explain the benefits of this situation with an example I saw in the book Likeable Social Media .
A person who waited a long time at the reception of a hotel in Las Vegas to check in shares this on social media. And then something interesting happens. While waiting for a response from the hotel he complained about, a response comes from a rival hotel. Right now, you may all have imagined that the response includes a message telling you to choose them. But that is not the case at all. The response is “We are very sorry for this bad experience. We hope that everything goes well for the rest of your time in Las Vegas.” The aim here is certainly to increase his own awareness, but the fact that it does not directly contain such a message must have attracted the user’s attention and he chose this hotel to stay at next time. He also liked their Facebook page, ensuring that 3500 people in his Facebook circle reviewed this hotel. For example, he continues by mentioning that one of his friends on Facebook was looking for a hotel in Las Vegas and asked him about this hotel. The point I want to get to in short is; since people share every moment on social media, instead of waiting for people to call you, if you reach even one person on social media, that person will bring others with him.
Positive Approaches
Of course, a question arises here: “Does Facebook help increase brand awareness and also improve search rankings?”
I would like to answer this with a study conducted by Searchmetrics . The study was conducted on ranking factors based on US users in 2012. As a result of the study, the following graph was obtained.
Before moving on to the explanation of the chart, I would like to point out that Google+ was excluded from the study.
As can be seen from the graph, social signals have a very large and positive correlation. Facebook sharing is in first place, followed by the number of backlinks. The relationship between the number of backlinks and the ranking result should not surprise you. However, the fact that Facebook has such a high correlation shows that the optimization trend has changed.
Another piece of evidence that shows the positive impact of Facebook on SEO is this video published by Matt Cutts in 2010. In the video, he states that social signals are very effective on organic SEO. He emphasizes that something shared on Facebook or Twitter is used as a signal in organic search and news searches, and that the value given to this link varies depending on the authority of the person sharing it. Shares made by reliable people, that is, people with a certain authority, provide additional value in terms of ranking values. And we can see this as a new link building strategy.
In this article, I will first talk about the effect of the most used social media accounts on search engines in general. Then I will introduce you to both positive and negative opinions. I will then state my own opinions and conclude my article by talking about the future comments on the effect of social media on SEO.
Twitter and SEO
Twitter, as you know, is a microblogging service with the most active and numerous users. You can make your sharing visible only to your personal Twitter network or to all users, as desired. What is important here is that important signals such as the number of favorites or RTs can be seen by the search engine. According to Google's guidelines, we can say that Google values constantly shared links. In addition, Google gives links a weight that varies depending on the person tweeting. For example; a link shared by a person with more than 1000 followers does not give the same value to a link shared by a person with less than 100 followers. In Google's eyes, the former is more valuable.
Google+ and SEO
Google+ is a social network created by Google. Here, it is of great importance that it was created by Google. It is necessary to develop the Google+ profile as if you were optimizing a site. For example; When homeowner database editing the About section, you should explain your business in as much detail as possible. In other words, it should include important keywords and there should be a link to the website. In addition, the number of people in your circle is also important. As the number of people in your circle increases, you become more reliable. Of course, increasing the number of people is not a situation that will happen quickly, as in other social accounts, time is required at this point.
Linkedin and SEO
Linkedin, like Google+, is a social media tool that triggers the increase of your credibility. Your number of connections and your current sharing are important. Again, you can explain your business by including important keywords. Just as content is important in the optimization of a site, the content you describe yourself and share is important for Linkedin.
Facebook and SEO
Yes, we have come to the social media tool I really want to get to; Facebook. As you know, Facebook is a very popular social network. User actions (sharing, liking) are signals for search engines. Facebook now has a big share in marketing. Whether it is advertisements given through Facebook or posts made to increase awareness; a large user base can be easily reached through Facebook. While it is a platform that increases brand awareness and user base on one hand, it is also a platform that brings together customers of different companies and you with your own customers. I would like to explain the benefits of this situation with an example I saw in the book Likeable Social Media .
A person who waited a long time at the reception of a hotel in Las Vegas to check in shares this on social media. And then something interesting happens. While waiting for a response from the hotel he complained about, a response comes from a rival hotel. Right now, you may all have imagined that the response includes a message telling you to choose them. But that is not the case at all. The response is “We are very sorry for this bad experience. We hope that everything goes well for the rest of your time in Las Vegas.” The aim here is certainly to increase his own awareness, but the fact that it does not directly contain such a message must have attracted the user’s attention and he chose this hotel to stay at next time. He also liked their Facebook page, ensuring that 3500 people in his Facebook circle reviewed this hotel. For example, he continues by mentioning that one of his friends on Facebook was looking for a hotel in Las Vegas and asked him about this hotel. The point I want to get to in short is; since people share every moment on social media, instead of waiting for people to call you, if you reach even one person on social media, that person will bring others with him.
Positive Approaches
Of course, a question arises here: “Does Facebook help increase brand awareness and also improve search rankings?”
I would like to answer this with a study conducted by Searchmetrics . The study was conducted on ranking factors based on US users in 2012. As a result of the study, the following graph was obtained.
Before moving on to the explanation of the chart, I would like to point out that Google+ was excluded from the study.
As can be seen from the graph, social signals have a very large and positive correlation. Facebook sharing is in first place, followed by the number of backlinks. The relationship between the number of backlinks and the ranking result should not surprise you. However, the fact that Facebook has such a high correlation shows that the optimization trend has changed.
Another piece of evidence that shows the positive impact of Facebook on SEO is this video published by Matt Cutts in 2010. In the video, he states that social signals are very effective on organic SEO. He emphasizes that something shared on Facebook or Twitter is used as a signal in organic search and news searches, and that the value given to this link varies depending on the authority of the person sharing it. Shares made by reliable people, that is, people with a certain authority, provide additional value in terms of ranking values. And we can see this as a new link building strategy.