It’s likely that you already know the importance of social media as an essential method of engaging with your followers. For that reason, over 200 million companies use Facebook to connect with their customers.
But did you know it can also improve your SEO?
You might have been told that social media does not impact search engine optimization, but this isn’t true. Social SEO can increase your search engine discoverability, increase brand recognition, and even boost the conversion rate.
If you’re still not taking advantage of social SEO, don’t be worried, as this list of nine simple methods will help you get started.
What is Social SEO?
Let’s begin by briefly describing SEO or search engine optimization (SEO). SEO refers to the steps you can do to boost the rank of your website on search engines, increase the amount of traffic to search engines, and everything else to ensure that you appear at the top of Google for the keywords you want to rank.
Social SEO is about the use of social media to boost your search engine’s performance. It’s an area of SEO that is often overlooked; however, it can aid in improving the quality and quantity of your search engine traffic.
You may be doubtful. You’ve been told that backlinks from social media aren’t SEO-friendly.
The question of whether or not Social signals influence your website’s position on Google has been a hotly debated issue for many years.
Even if there’s no immediate effect on your SEO, social media could indirectly aid the effectiveness of your SEO efforts in a variety of ways.
Let’s review the main reasons you should consider social SEO.
When people speak of optimizing search engines, they are referring to the process of optimizing your search results for Google.
The other search engines like Bing fare poorly concerning market shares.
However, social media websites similar to Facebook can also be considered search engines, and they’re extremely popular. Facebook alone boasts nearly two billion daily active users.
The question is: are people using social media to search for products?
One study of fashion consumers says yes. 41 percent of them utilize Facebook to find out more about and learn about new products. 35% use Instagram, and 21% use Pinterest.
In the 16-24 age bracket, Social media has become more well-known over traditional search engines to research brands.
Social media search engines can bring new visitors to your site with a solid online presence.
If you input an address of the company into Google, What results will appear on the first page of SERPs?
If the business owns a site, it is likely to be the first. However, the company’s Facebook page or other social media pages will often be at or near the top.
In some cases, social media business pages even rank for unbranded keywords.
It is a good idea to be aware that searches on Google could pull up your social media websites. Be sure that they contain the information that users are searching.
Social media boosts the visibility of brands and improves their reputation.
People are more likely to click your SERP listing if they know who you are and have a good impression of your brand . Social media can help with that.
A presence on social media builds the brand’s reputation and helps you appear more credible and reliable.
Social media allows you to understand your customers
Engaging with your audience on social media can help you learn more about them.
What kind of content has the most shares and likes? What do people say to each other in their comments?
This is the knowledge you can use in your SEO efforts. For example, if lots of people on Facebook are asking a specific question, people are probably googling it too. Write an article on the topic to bring those searchers to your site.
Social SEO helps you prepare for the future
Google’s algorithm changes all the time. It’s possible that social signals will take on greater importance in the future.
Social media is an integral component of the internet’s landscape today and continues to expand. In 2025, social media will include 4.41 billion users.
Google knows that, and we can expect to continue to adjust how its search engine interacts with social media sites.
What those changes will look like is beyond anyone’s guess, but optimizing your social media presence will put you in a good position for any updates.
Social SEO doesn’t need to be complicated. Follow these nine easy social media marketing tips to improve your SEO efforts.
For every social media platform you are using, make sure you’ve filled in your company details completely.
There are several reasons to consider this.
It’s the first step in giving users the best experience. Be aware that people may discover your social media accounts before seeing your website or other information regarding you.
If they’re searching for your number, your company’s name, or an address for your website, it should be easy to locate.
Furthermore, some of this information may appear on a results page. For instance, Google listings for Facebook pages may include the business’s address, description, reviews ratings, pages that have been liked, and much more. Make sure that your Facebook page isn’t missing any of these details.
2. Go Beyond Facebook
Do not get us wrong -you must join Facebook, and it’s the most used Social Media platform on the planet.
Other social media platforms and apps are on the way, and businesses are investing more heavily in them.
62 percent of marketers agree that Facebook is among the most important platforms to meet their business goals -an overwhelming majority.
But that’s lower than 78% in the previous year. In addition, the number of marketers who believe TikTok is essential has grown by 700%, while the percentage of people who choose Snapchat is growing by 1200%.
3. Use keywords
Keywords are the first thing that people imagine when they think of SEO.
You can use keywords for social SEO too. And unlike Google, not many people are thinking about keyword research and optimization on social media, so it’s less competitive. Here are two ways you can use keywords on your social media pages:
Make use of keywords in your description of your business
Every major social media website offers a place to write a brief summary of your identity and what you are doing. Use one of two crucial keywords in your description.
It will assist people in finding your website via the popular social network. They may also be able to locate your website through Google.
Use keywords in your posts
A typical SEO method on websites would be to place every article around a specific keyword or two you wish it to be ranked for.
You can do the same thing with social media posts
Imagine your ideal target customer and then think about what they could type on Google or Facebook (or Instagram or Twitter) search bar. Create posts around these keywords.
Hashtags can be an effective tool for marketers of social media. They can increase the visibility of your page as well as your posts.
But more isn’t always better. An excessive list of hashtags in your social media post looks spammy and distracts from your main message.
Choosing some important hashtags to use for every piece of content you share is recommended. Like SEO keywords, it is important to consider the search intent. Here are a few methods to choose hashtags:
Check out what your competitors are using.
Brainstorm concepts for hashtags by looking at the most popular posts from your peers or influencers within your industry. Check each hashtag and check out what you can find. Does the result match your brand’s image?
Check out the most popular hashtags.
Certain social media platforms, such as Twitter, have an updated list of trending hashtags.
If none of the trends are relevant to your brand, don’t force it. But if you can think of a clever way to incorporate a popular hashtag, it could bring a lot of new traffic to your page.
Create your own hashtag.
There is no requirement to use hashtags that are already in use. You can make something unique — one that is associated with your company’s name alone.
However, a unique hashtag doesn’t make much sense if people aren’t interested. The best hashtags that are branded allow people on social media to take part.
An excellent example of this is the Red Bull #PutACanOnIt marketing campaign, where people took photographs of Red Bull cans in various situations.
It helped spread brand awareness and entices users on social media to connect in conversation with your brand. Making your own hashtag could be part of a wider content pillar strategy for social media.
5. Include high-quality video and images
Certain websites on social networks are dedicated to videos (like TikTok) or images (like Instagram).
However, videos and images are crucial for other platforms too, and they can make your posts appealing and visible.
These are also getting more attention than text-based posts. 68 percent of Social media users would rather interact by using images, and 50 percent prefer videos.
6. Engage your audience
Social media is supposed to be social.
It means you need to respond to queries or comments regarding your business or products via social media. Create posts that invite the followers you follow to participate in the discussion and post or retweet the content.
The advantages of interacting with your social media follower include:
- You make a positive impression of your company
- You will learn what your target audience is looking for and what issues they may have.
- People tend to be more likely to remember their brand when they engage with them.
7. Engage with influencers
We’ve already discussed how your own social media profiles can help SEO.
The same principles apply to social media influencers. These accounts can build awareness about your brand, help your business show up in searches, and drive traffic to your website. 48% of marketers say that their return on investment (ROI) from influencer marketing is better than other marketing channels.
If you’re interested in working with influencers but haven’t done so yet, the first step is to find the right partners.
The most influential person isn’t always the most well-known person on Instagram. Do you think Selena Gomez’s followers have a connection with yours? It’s someone whose audience is similar to your ideal customer and whose typical content matches your brand messaging.
Influencers can be found by searching hashtags or keywords relevant to your business.
Once you’ve discovered an influencer you’d like to collaborate with, you can create an offer. It’s helpful to learn about the influencer’s content before you contact them. What is their typical format? Unboxing videos? Reviews that include photographs?
Let them know which content of theirs you like and ask if they’d be interested in working on something similar for you.
Tracking how often your content is liked and shared gives you information to use in your SEO efforts.
If, for instance, the post you are writing about gets lots of interest on Facebook and you want to create fresh content for your website related to the same subject. It could give you suggestions for the keywords you should focus on to optimize your search engine optimization (or PPC ads ).
You can also continue to promote the popular post on social media. It will get more shares, which means greater visibility for your brand.
Suppose the content getting shared on social media is from your website (for example, a blog post that you posted on LinkedIn). In that case, you know that it resonates with your audience. It might be time to further optimize that content for search engines.
Another method of finding out what people think of you is to monitor conversations on social media.
That means you pay attention to what other social media users say about your business and industry. One way to do this is by searching social platforms for keywords and hashtags.
There are also social-listening tools, such as Hootsuite and TweetDeck, which help you keep track of mentions for your brand in real-time.
Conclusion
Social SEO is an often overlooked element of search engine optimization. A few tweaks to your Instagram or LinkedIn profile can help your page rank on search engines and increase the quality of your traffic.
Anyone can do social media SEO. However, managing so many social media profiles — and not even doing the traditional SEO task — could be overwhelming for many small-scale business owners. You’ll also get a higher return on investment if you partner with an expert.
We can help. Set up a meeting to speak with one of our SEO specialist today . If you’re looking for social media ads management check out our new service!
