Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s Web spam team recently released a YouTube video whose message should rest to the controversy about how much influence social media engagement has in a website’s overall SEO strategy.
While answering a question whether Google treats content posted on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter any differently, Matt Cutts said ‘NO’. Such content is treated same way as other web content.
Does that mean that social signals are no longer an essential part of page ranking? The answer is not as straightforward. The following should be noted about your Melbourne FL SEO.
Likes and Followers: Do they Confer any SEO Value?
There is a widespread perception that is you have plenty of followers on your social media pages, the search engine bots will be lead to consider your website as popular and therefore rank your pages highly. Matt was categorical in stating that the amount of followers or the likes on your pages do not bear any influence at all when it comes to ranking on Google.
Does this mean that if you have plenty of followers on social media, this does not confer any advantage? Of course not! These social signals matter a lot. If you have good content on your social media pages and therefore attract plenty of followers, your website will in turn enjoy plenty of visitors as a result.
Social Media Signals as Indirect Sources of Ranking Reputation
While major search engines such as Google and Bing may not consider social signals such as Facebook likes, shares and recommendations as a ranking factor, it would be foolish to dismiss their importance. When your content is shared on the web a lot, the search engines will inevitably take notice and confer a ranking advantage to the pages which are the source of this buzz.
To make sure you curry favor with the search engines when it comes to social media signals, ensure you share your content on social media consistently. Moreover, the content you share should be of relevance to readers who come across it on the web. It will be of little use to try and confuse the search bots while, in fact, the content you share has zero value to human users.
The Role of Positive Reviews on Social Media
The modern-day social media platforms are powerful tools to reach out and engage with customers. Companies are increasingly using the ubiquity of social media to offer services such as customer support. Customers have come to expect to have their issues addressed speedily without doing anything more than sending a tweet.
The more speedily and expeditiously you address customer concerns through social media, the likelier it is that your brand will receive positive reviews on platforms such as Google Local or Yelp.
In fact, Facebook now incorporates business reviews as part of product pages. At a time when people are increasingly using long tail keywords when searching for products and services in the local market, Google is using ratings as an indicator of how the search results are ranked. You can only ignore this powerful tool at your own peril.
Contact the experts at Tight Line Productions if you are looking to boost your SEO rankings and increase your online presence.
