{"id":32769,"date":"2019-11-20T09:08:59","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T09:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clickintelligence.co\/?p=32769"},"modified":"2023-03-01T16:52:47","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T16:52:47","slug":"why-your-business-needs-awesome-social-signals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-uk.clickintelligence.com\/us\/why-your-business-needs-awesome-social-signals\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Your Business Needs Awesome Social Signals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Social signals have the potential to improve brand awareness, boost SEO rankings and make or break a business\u2019s reputation. Here we explore the growing importance of social media and, crucially, how to get social signals.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Social media has become an indomitable force in not just the digital marketing industry, but society as we know it. While SEO (search engine optimization) has been at the forefront of business development and success for years now, there is growing evidence that social signals are changing the game in terms of how a business defines success and can directly impact performance in search engine results.<\/p>\n

First things first\u2026what are social signals?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The term \u2018social signals\u2019 refers to the likes, shares, votes, views, and comments that your content attracts on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest. Essentially, social signals represent how much an audience is engaging with your brand via social media.<\/p>\n

In addition to traditional SEO metrics like content quality, backlinks and page speed, search engines like Google and Bing are increasingly taking social signals into account when assessing your SERP (search engine results page) ranking. The stronger your social signals, the more likely a search engine is to view you as a visible, trusted and relevant brand and to boost your organic search ranking.<\/p>\n

There is some debate in the digital marketing world as to whether or not social signals hold the same value as other SEO elements, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that this is not the case. Social media is more than a platform for communication and generating sales leads; it can directly affect a brand\u2019s SEO performance, which is why it\u2019s essential that businesses establish a comprehensive social media strategy.<\/p>\n

How do social signals affect SEO ranking?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s important to remember that most of the information on SEO that is published is based on conjecture, assumption, and research. The reason for this is that very few people are privy to the exact algorithms used by search engines to assess websites and content. However, there is also plenty of research and analysis out there which confirms that social signals do indeed have an impact on SEO performance.<\/p>\n

The main objective of a search engine is to find the most useful, high-quality and relevant content for its users. Over time it has become evident that social media platforms are vital sources of information when it comes to assessing the quality of content and how engaged people are with your brand. To ensure that this key information is captured, search engines are now including social signals as an SEO ranking signal.<\/p>\n

Strong social signals have come to be associated with high domain authority as a high level of engagement indicates that a page is entertaining, informative, and genuine. Social media moves at a lightning fast pace, so it\u2019s essential that search engines are able to take the pulse of what\u2019s happening in the world to ensure its results are relevant and up to date.<\/p>\n

From Facebook shares to Mentions on sites like Reddit and Tumblr, studies have shown that social signals are having an impact on SERP results. It’s clear, for example, that social signals such as likes and shares directly influence search rankings. Some businesses overlook Bing and target their SEO strategy towards Google as the more widely used search engine. However, it\u2019s worth keeping in mind that around 25% of all internet searches are carried out using Bing and this number is increasing steadily. Can you afford to miss out on 25% of search engine queries? If not, prioritize social signals and boost your rankings in Bing.<\/p>\n

But what about Google?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Google algorithm is a mathematical formula used to determine a website\u2019s relevance and value for search queries. The more valuable and relevant a site is, the higher Google will rank it in SERPs. It\u2019s widely known that the Google algorithm treats content quality, backlink profile, anchor text links and keyword relevance in its calculation, but what about social signals?<\/p>\n

A few years back, Google (via Matt Cutts) said that social signals were not a direct ranking factor. However, that statement did not rule out the concept that social signals could impact SEO performance in an indirect way, and in any event, that statement is now several years old; any SEO knows that the Google algorithm is updated on a weekly basis, not to mention to significant Panda and Penguin updates. They also rarely make it clear what has changed, so Matt Cutts\u2019 words are likely to be outdated.<\/p>\n

While Google has not confirmed that social signals will have a direct impact on ranking, it\u2019s clear that strong social signals have an indirect impact on your SEO strategy. The more people who view, like and comment on your social media content, the more likely it is it will be seen by a higher number of people. Assuming that your content links to your website, this increases the likelihood that people will visit your website to view the content. This boosts traffic and maximizes your chances of getting organic links to your content. Obviously this is great for both building brand awareness and for improving your SEO ranking. Google has also partnered with Twitter and includes tweets and retweets in search results.<\/p>\n

Why are social signals important for your business?<\/strong><\/h3>\n