LET’S FACE IT, attracting customers today is not just about advertising. It’s a combination of many things, including social media and driving traffic to your website and your store. SEO is as important in attracting and driving traffic as is your ad copy and where you place your ads. Social SEO refers to the idea that social media links and interaction play an important part in your website’s search rankings. Basically, SEO is all about optimizing content, whether it’s on your website or on a social media platform—to appear higher in search rankings.
1. Optimize your social media profiles. The key to an SEO-friendly social media profile is to be as descriptive as possible. Always fill out the “About” or “Information” sections of any social media platform. Use words or phrases that describe your business and are also terms individuals would use to search for your business. For example, to optimize your Facebook Page for local searches, it is important to include your address, city, state and zip. Always include links from your social channels back to your business’s website (and links from your website to your social channels). The “Category” field is often overlooked on Facebook Pages, but is important for Facebook mobile searches. Check to make sure your business is listed as the correct category while editing your basic information.
2. Optimize your social media content/updates. To optimize your social content, always include some of the relevant search keywords you determined for your business in your Facebook updates, tweets on Twitter, pin descriptions on Pinterest, etc. It’s important to remember to share content from your website or blog socially to give it an SEO boost. Use your business’s name in your social posts. This helps Google associate the keywords you use to describe your business with your business’s name.
3. Build links by making your content shareable. A key factor in SEO is link building. Simply put, this means having good website-to-website relationships through links. When you have more quality sites linking to your website (inbound) and you are linking to other quality websites (outbound), Google will determine your website to be more authoritative.
“Likes,” comments, repins, retweets, etc., all play into the weight given to your links. If you create content people want to share, you can create more inbound links. Content doesn’t always have to be a new blog post; content can refer to tweets or Facebook posts as well. By posting engaging social content, you’re improving your SEO value. Another way to increase shares is to add social share buttons to individual pieces of content on your website or blog.
Keep in mind that improving your SEO takes time, and changes don’t happen overnight. Always be as descriptive as you can and keep your information up to date.