Social media IS still important for your SEO

Nick Lucey at 23:00pm on February 18th 2014

For a while it’s been pretty widely agreed that Google isn’t taking ranking signals from social networks, and there isn’t yet much evidence that Google is using G+ as a ranking factor either (yet). With the penguin invasion on manipulating search rankings through spammed links, you could say Google is need of a new human indicator of high value content, and I think this is where the idea that social will be the future of ranking signals comes from.

Until then, it’s still about links. But instead of getting away with posting “Great post [insert keyword link here]” in comments thousands of times across the blogosphere, content producers are having to earn their links by making themselves known, building relationships, getting a reputation – and social media (for better or for worse) is probably the most powerful way of doing this online.

This flip side to this is that small businesses don’t need to compete for ‘vanity’ searches the way they often think they do. Instead of getting a tiny slice of one very competitive, very generic search, businesses can build up a bank of content that allows them to rank no.1 for thousands of much more specific search terms, that on their own don’t drive a lot of traffic, but put together are ultimately more likely to result in sales.

The down side to this for the small business, is that being the great at what you do is no longer enough. You now have to great at writing about what you do as well. (or I suppose you could hire someone to do it for you 😉 ).

2 comments on this article

Nick Lucey at 23:00pm on February 18th 2014

For a while it’s been pretty widely agreed that Google isn’t taking ranking signals from social networks, and there isn’t yet much evidence that Google is using G+ as a ranking factor either (yet). With the penguin invasion on manipulating search rankings through spammed links, you could say Google is need of a new human indicator of high value content, and I think this is where the idea that social will be the future of ranking signals comes from.

Until then, it’s still about links. But instead of getting away with posting “Great post [insert keyword link here]” in comments thousands of times across the blogosphere, content producers are having to earn their links by making themselves known, building relationships, getting a reputation – and social media (for better or for worse) is probably the most powerful way of doing this online.

This flip side to this is that small businesses don’t need to compete for ‘vanity’ searches the way they often think they do. Instead of getting a tiny slice of one very competitive, very generic search, businesses can build up a bank of content that allows them to rank no.1 for thousands of much more specific search terms, that on their own don’t drive a lot of traffic, but put together are ultimately more likely to result in sales.

The down side to this for the small business, is that being the great at what you do is no longer enough. You now have to great at writing about what you do as well. (or I suppose you could hire someone to do it for you 😉 ).

Graham Todd at 23:31pm on February 18th 2014

Thanks for your excellent and comprehensive comment, Nick.

I totally agree about the poor small business owner too. They really do have a chance but it does mean they have to be brilliant at a lot more now… one of the main reasons our business exists though – so we don’t knock it! 😉

Content Writing

Consultancy

Digital Marketing

Training and Speaking

Friday Digital Roundup

Spaghetti Blog