Social media and SEO: a powerful duo that can significantly grow your online visibility when combined effectively. It’s an understatement to say that social media has grown in importance, but over the last few years, platforms such as TikTok have shown just how much of an impact social media communities have on businesses.
Take Stanley, for example; a brand that’s been around since 1913, but until now, many of us weren’t familiar with. Today, having a Stanley cup is a core requirement for many TikTok-obsessed individuals, thanks to the influx of social media content around the products — leading to huge brand awareness for them and no doubt, millions of sales!
Social signals are not direct ranking factors — the set of criteria by which search engines like Google determine the value of web content — but there’s certainly a correlation between social engagement and SEO rankings when it comes to influencing factors such as traffic, brand awareness, link building, and user trust.
Want to boost your organic visibility through social channels? Here’s all you need to know about how social media can fuel SEO growth.
1. Optimize your social media profiles
In SEO, optimization typically involves refining and enhancing your content — from landing pages to blog posts — by targeting relevant keywords, improving its chances of ranking and driving traffic. And the same principle applies to your social media profiles.
Starting with your bio, you should use this section to describe who you are and what you do, sell, or specialize in — using targeted keywords that match what your audience is likely searching for. This alone can help people discover your brand and your content.
As an example, a search for ‘Bristol Coffee’ on Instagram lists Tin Can Coffee as a top result, despite the brand not having Bristol in their username. Why? They’ve included Bristol at the top of their bio and their address, clearly displayed what they offer (in this case, their own blend and seasonal espresso), and included a website link.
The website link is particularly important, as it provides a direct and easily accessible path for your followers to visit your website. This also makes it easier for users to conduct branded searches, which can positively impact your SEO — these searches can be interpreted by Google as a signal of brand authority and relevance.
2. Collaborate with influencers to boost your social proof
Alongside making branded social media content, you can utilise other powerful content marketing techniques such as leveraging influencer-made content, providing valuable social proof for your brand. For Google, social proof is the online evidence that demonstrates the credibility, popularity, and trustworthiness of a website or brand. This can have a significant influence on how and where a website appears in search results.
You can improve your social proof in several ways, including working with influencers who can endorse and review your products or services. Better yet, this social proof is valuable to your potential customers, not just Google. It acts as a vote of confidence, increasing the likelihood of users heading to your website or organically searching for keywords associated with your brand — and therefore, positively impacting your SEO.
3. Use social media to monitor conversations with your industry
Another way of using social media for SEO growth is by monitoring online conversations. What’s trending in your industry? What questions are people asking? You can think of this as a guide to adapting your SEO strategy, helping you align with the current interests and demands of your audience.
Using these social media insights — by keeping up-to-date with Twitter conversations or TikTok trends, for example — you can create content around trending topics that attract more attention and engagement. Alternatively, you can learn more about user intent by analyzing the types of questions users ask in your comments, or the language used to find clues about their interests, needs, and intent.
All of this can feed into your keyword research. Incorporating keywords or FAQs into your landing pages which reflect the needs and preferences of users provides a competitive advantage that can help you stand out in search results.
4. Create Quality content, images, and videos.
It may sound obvious, but one of the simplest yet most effective ways of leveraging social media for SEO growth is to consistently share high-quality content like images, videos, and reels. If someone were to come across your social media profile only to find you last posted over a year ago, this can be a red flag. It suggests that you’re apathetic, out of touch, or even that your brand is no longer active — which can make users wary of engaging with you.
Instead, regularly posting high-quality content — not just the odd promotional poster here and there — helps audiences discover your brand and engage with your message. And when your profiles are full of great content, people are almost always going to click the website link in your bio to learn more about you. To enhance your social media strategy and consistently share high-quality content, consider using a tool like a video editor to create engaging videos and reels. With Video Editor, you can create high-quality content in minimum time by customizing posts with transitions, effects, filters, text boxes, and more. This not only captures the audience’s attention but also ensures your brand stands out in the crowded social media landscape. By incorporating visually appealing elements into your content quickly, you can boost engagement and increase awareness on social media platforms, contributing to improved SEO performance.
A tool such as Google Analytics will tell you where the majority of your traffic is currently coming from, whether it’s organic search, direct, email, or social. If your social platforms are generating little traffic, it may be a sign that you need to post more regularly, or that the content you’re posting is not interesting enough.
5. Incorporate local SEO to improve location-specific rankings
Social media is a great place to work on your local SEO growth. As the previous example showed, including location-specific information, such as adding your business address to your bio, can help draw in local audiences searching for local services or products. This is a great starting point if you’re looking to drive traffic from local consumers.
Additionally, having an active Facebook page can help you generate more online reviews, which naturally include local keywords that are shown in relevant search results. It simply provides another nod of validation to Google about your local relevance!
Last, but certainly not least, how about using social media to run location-based ad campaigns? Platforms like Facebook and Instagram allow you to target specific geographic areas, which means targeted local traffic, increased conversions, and plenty of positive signals to Google that you’re providing value to local customers.
6. Focus on your most popular social channels
While it’s important to test out different social media platforms to see where you receive the most engagement, don’t spread yourself too thin. In the long run, this can cause you to miss out on valuable growth opportunities, focusing too much of your time and resources on channels that aren’t driving a meaningful return on your investment.
Think carefully about which social media channels are working best for your target audience and business goals — you can get more insight on this by looking at your analytics for each platform. A consistent lack of likes, low views, and a modest follower are all signs that a certain social media platform may not be working for you. On the other hand, if your posts on another platform are leading to new conversions and strong engagement, it’s a good idea to spend more time developing this profile.
Look at which channels your competitors are using, too. It may be that you’re missing an opportunity they’re not, or that they’ve already decided certain social platforms are not compatible with their niche. Consider where your audience spends their time. As a B2C ecommerce business, Instagram is highly visual and can be used for product showcases, whereas LinkedIn might not be the first place users go to learn more about your products. It’s all about knowing your audience.
While social media and SEO are commonly seen as separate elements of a digital marketing strategy, they share more similarities than you might realize. In fact, social media can serve as a powerful tool for enhancing your organic growth.
By offering valuable social proof and generating unique actionable insights, integrating your SEO and social media strategies presents numerous opportunities to enhance engagement, increase traffic, and secure conversions. Follow these six key tips to create a strong synergy between the two!