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SEO & Social Media – Bringing Two Strategies Together

A topic that seems to be talked about around the water cooler these days is the idea of integrating search efforts with social media strategies. For many people this idea raises two questions: How are the two related? And, what can I do to maximize my efforts?

Well, let’s start with some basics. First, how would one of your customers find you in doing an online search? Well, in the old days, the likelihood that your business would show up in the search results (or, essentially how the ranking algorithms were written) had to do with your keyword strategy, the content on your website, your AdWord efforts, etc. Now, there is a whole new layer to consider. Enter social media.

The ranking algorithms are now taking into account how often your business is being talked about on social media in addition to the old school strategies. The term “social signals” is what is used to describe this – basically likes, shares, views, pins, etc. So, essentially the more you are talked about in the social media world (or the more social signals that your company has) the better your ranking will be in search results.  The concept of this is further explained by the integration between certain social media sites and search engines. Google + has become integrated with Google search results and the same can be said of Facebook and Bing. Search and social media are becoming inseparable.

So, what can you do with your social media efforts that will benefit your search strategy? We have some tips to share with you. The first thing to consider is building up your credibility (and the credibility of your business) with search engines. This really comes down to distributing good content. Why do you distribute content on your social media sites? It is to get people to engage, right? Well, the better the content and the more you establish your company as a leader in the industry, the more people will engage or click. And the more people click, the more search engines will like you. (Meaning you will turn up higher in search results.) So, our advice to you is to post quality information and not just fluff on your social media channels – it will help get your company noticed.

Our next piece of advice is to display your social media “connect” buttons on each and every page of your website. As it turns out, search engines take into account how many different places on your website that people are able to connect with you on social media. Simply by having the buttons shows that you have a credible brand and that you care about your social media presence. (And like producing quality content, this will move you up in the search results.)

Next, let’s talk about link building. In case you aren’t familiar, link building is really your strategy to get as many quality links out there that get people back to your website. Search engines are paying attention to the quantity and the quality of the inbound links to your website. The more people you are driving to your site, the better off you will be with search.  For example, make sure that if you have a blog that you are sending out updates on your social media channels with links to your latest blog post.

Our last piece of advice is to make sure that the people who work on your company’s search strategy are talking with the folks doing your social media strategy. In today’s online world, you really need to make sure that the two efforts are working hand in hand.

Coming up next week: How to use your blog to help your SEO efforts.

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