How Social Media Can Boost Your SEO
Leverage Social Media to Improve your SEO in 2023
When was the last time you updated your SEO content strategy? Search engine optimization—or SEO—remains a vital tool in improving your Google search rankings in 2023 and beyond. Your social media strategy works in tandem with your SEO efforts, and when done well, it can propel your business to new heights.
It is essential to evolve your content strategy to stay ahead of the competition with trends constantly changing. We're here to help!
What is SEO?
Neil Patel said it best: SEO is the process of taking steps to help a website or piece of content rank higher on Google. The higher you rank, the more website visitors you are likely to get since people click on the first few search results.
Strengthening SEO involves:
Following several marketing best practices, like incorporating keywords into your online copy.
Adding backlinks and meta descriptions.
Improving readability and more.
How Social Media Helps SEO
So, where does social media factor into the SEO process? When more people share your content across social media, it generates 'social signals' that indicate your posts are valuable to your target audience.
In other words, when you share strong, value-driven posts, follow social media best practices and include proper links and CTAs, your audience amplifies your content by re-sharing it across their network. This way, you increase visibility, improve traffic, and generate backlinks.
With this in mind, read on to learn how to use popular social media platforms to boost your SEO!
LinkedIn is a powerful thought leadership platform. From an SEO standpoint, it's the perfect place to post long-form, value-add content your audience will be eager to share.
SEO strategies to implement on your LinkedIn Profile:
Give recommendations and endorsements: Giving and receiving LinkedIn endorsements works similarly to Google Business Profile reviews. Not only do they boost credibility, but they can be viewed by others in your network, increasing brand awareness and reach.
Fill out every field of your profile: Include your work experience alongside relevant, descriptive keywords. But don't go overboard!
Use a custom URL: This is an underutilized yet effective feature. Create a unique URL for your LinkedIn profile that you can put on your website instead of using the standard one typically filled with numbers.
Add keywords to your job title: Create a descriptive job title that incorporates relevant keywords, and divide it up with "|" to make it look clean and organized.
Post LinkedIn articles at least once a month. These operate as your website blog would. By sharing these regularly, you create plenty of opportunities to incorporate searchable keywords, showcase your unique expertise and provide content for followers that is highly shareable.
Read more: 5 Tangible Benefits of Being Active on LinkedIn
Google Business Profile
If you missed it, Google Business Profile is the new name for Google My Business, the free feature from Google that helps business owners manage their online presence and provide details like location, website, and products or services.
Optimize your GBP's SEO by optimizing your listing:
Fill out 100% of your profile details
Check and update your contact info
If relevant, check your opening times. Don't forget about holiday hours!
Review your photos regularly for relevance and quality
Add keywords to your posts, products and services, and description
Respond to customer reviews
Most importantly, keep your data current
Use the fundamental principles of website SEO to boost organic visibility and search ranking on Facebook.
Like LinkedIn, create a unique Facebook page name and URL. Make sure this username is clear, relevant to your brand and easy to spell and search for.
Incorporate keywords strategically. On your profile, add keywords to your tagline, bio, video titles, image captions, and most importantly, your Facebook posts.
Follow social media best practices, like adding CTAs and links to your website. This way, you can guarantee your social followers will always have easy access to your website.
Post strong content regularly to keep your page active and give your followers consistent content to reshare.
Like other social media platforms, Instagram is essentially its search engine, and its algorithm is constantly changing. SEO plays a significant role in what populates users' "suggested posts," a space that highlights content from accounts you don't follow. This is important because—from an SEO perspective—you want NEW audiences to discover your profile on the Explore page or through shares, love what they see, and eventually click through to your website. To do so, you need to make your profile easily discoverable.
To boost awareness of your Instagram profile, use searchable keywords and terms in your bio, business name, and, if possible, your username. Think: What would someone have to type in the search bar to land on your profile? So make sure those keywords are front and centre in your bio and description.
Once they land on your page, you'll have seconds to grab and hold their attention. Here's how:
Make your Instagram feed aesthetically pleasing. It doesn't need to be "fancy" or overly curated visually. It just needs to be consistent and instantly showcase what you're all about.
Include a trackable link in your bio.
Add CTAs to your Instagram posts.
Regularly utilize link features on Instagram Stories.
Treat Instagram Guides like website blogs and follow website SEO best practices.
Post consistently and regularly.
Register for an Instagram Business account to boost your credibility if you haven't already.
There you have it! With the right social media strategy in place, you can effectively strengthen your SEO and boost brand awareness and reach. Contact us to get guidance on elevating your social media content strategy to improve your SEO.