The online realms of search and social media are continuing to drift ever closer. What SEO professionals have suspected for a while was confirmed last week in an interview with representatives of the two big search engines: what happens on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter affects the rankings of websites in Google’s and Bing’s search engine results.
Bing and Google admitted that they look at how often a link is shared on Facebook and Twitter, and who is doing the sharing. Links to a website that are shared often and by people that carry a high degree of authority (a link shared by a high profile tweeter like Stephen Fry carries more value than a link shared by new twitter accounts with only a handful of followers) will have a positive influence on that website’s rankings, and thus on their search engine traffic.
What this means is that for website owners, their SEO and social media strategies should become more intwined. Reaching out to your customers and prospects on social media sites should now be a part of your overall online strategy, as every mention of your brand and your site online can have a positive impact on your search engine rankings.
It’s not just a matter of spamming Facebook and Twitter, though. Abuse of social media sites is easily detectable and any links you share in a spammy way won’t carry much value for search engines.
So the key is to approach social media sites with care and consideration, and to try and be a genuine and authentic voice online. Social media sites don’t lend themselves well to overly commercial messages – they tend to be fairly informal platforms where you can engage in conversations with your customers and prospects, enabling you to build a relationship with them that can have positive results for all parties involved.