In 2013 we saw many changes to Google’s ranking methods, with more and more sites being penalized for over-SEO-ing and spamming, and sites with prudent SEO making it through unscathed.
Despite these algorithm changes the two pillars of SEO and ranking did not change. These two points have been since the beginning and continue to be the most important factors in SEO, and they are: 1) Content, and 2) Linking. While this may not be news to most, it is always a good thing to re-affirm with the basics, re-evaluate and make sure one is still focused on them. However this article is not about the two founding pillars of SEO, but rather a newly forming third pillar: Social Media.
Social Media for SEO
While we’ve heard people say for several years now that Facebook and Twitter are good for your SEO and that you should do them, there is much more to it than that. Yes it is good to have them as more outlets to engage users and promote your company but as far as SEO goes Google is and has recently been using ‘social signals’ for its search engine ranking calculations. In other words, the more noise your company is making in the social media sites the more Google will give it credence.
There is every reason to believe that Google will not only keep this new factor but increase its weight, as ‘social signals’ are nearly the perfect way to gauge the value and popularity of something because it is a naturally occurring phenomena with people (it is hard to fake, like with buying links).
Social Signals
First you must gear your thinking to: “how can I send Google more social signals about my website?”. Everything you do on your social media platforms must be focused towards that one point: sending Google social signals. That is achieved by getting MANY likes, shares, retweets, view (for Youtube), etc. Not just a handful, you need to go for the gold and get into triple digits. Ten shares or ten likes will not suffice, you must think big.
What do I post about?
Now that you know what to do, all you have to do is figure out what content you should put on your social media platforms that will result in the highest amount of user engagement possible. We have written many blog articles on the subject of what to post about so by all means read through our previous articles to get your ideas flowing.
Conclusion
For 2014, keep the focus on linking and content and start devoting more time to social media. All it requires is some creativity and energy.
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