Does Google Use Social Signals for Ranking?

Does Google Use Social Signals for Ranking

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The social media market is worth more than 70 billion dollars and is increasing rapidly. It has also been found that businesses allocate about 15% of their marketing budget to social media. That shows how marketing dynamics have changed from conventional to social media.

It also shows how big and important social media is for businesses. So, does Google also consider social media signals in its ranking process? Well, the answer is not that straightforward. Google never categorically accepted that it considers backlinks and other vitals from social media in its ranking directly. Still, statistics suggest that social media plays a pivotal role in your ranking.

Even if Google does not directly consider social media in its ranking process, but social media does divert massive amounts of traffic to the main website. This is why every brand, from Toyota to MG Motors, Nike to Puma, and Apple to Samsung, has an active social media account.

Ironically, Google itself has a social media account, and the whole debate on the topic under discussion started from a series of tweets from the office bearer of Google.

Read | Best Ways to Maximize SEO and Social Media

What Does the Office Bearer of Google Says

  • The debate started in 2010 when the head of the Webspam was asked how Google rates links from sites like Twitter and Facebook. He answered that Twitter and Facebook links are treated the same as any other side.
  • Later, in 2015, John Mueller, an office bearer at Google, denied that social signals help rank a website. Similarly, Gary Illyes clarified that Social media increases traffic but does not directly pass the link Juice to the referred site in 2017.
  • More recently, in 2021, Mueller reiterated and quoted below when was asked that email links could impact ranking:

“No effect on SEO. Like ads, like social media. It’s good to have multiple separate sources of traffic to your website, and not everything needs to have an SEO effect.”

What does  Stats suggest

What does  Stats suggest

Following are some stats about social media’s contribution to the digital world that we want to mention to show its importance and contribution to the world economy. These stats are for the 2023 year;

  • Over 90% of businesses have a social media presence.
  • The total social media market is  more than 70 billion dollars
  • A business allocates approximately 15% of its marketing budget to social media on average.
  • There are 55 million companies on LinkedIn, 200 million on Instagram, and more than 30 million on Snapchat, and this number has increased rapidly from last year.

These statistics suggest that social media is not merely for enjoyment but a platform for business. Even if it does not pass the direct link equity to the site, it will give a handsome amount of traffic, which is a direct parameter for the SERPs calculations.

Read | How to Get Traffic to Your Website Without Social Media

Our Verdict

So, based on Google’s clarifications, it clearly shows that it does not consider social signals in its ranking process directly. Still, it does favor having social media platforms for the promotion and visibility of their brand and diversion of large flux of traffic to the main site.

So, running a social media campaign is necessary if you want to rank higher in the SERPs and earn something. Such campaigns will give convertible and organic traffic. So, social media should be part of your SEO strategy to earn traffic and rank higher.

How to Use Social Media?

How to Use Social Media

Following are some tips on using social media platforms for quick and better customer responses.  

Optimize your Profile.

Your profile or page’s “about section”  is the first thing a customer or visitor will consider. So, your profile should provide sufficient information about your niche and the link to the main website.

Additionally, if you are running a business, make your profile public so that Google can easily crawl and index it. Different social media platforms offer different spaces in the profile. So, use the space properly to describe yourself. Select the appropriate and relevant picture for your profile as well for better visibility and relatability.

The picture below is the Facebook home page of a UK-based travel agent. The capitatative picture and its caption say all about its niche.

UK-based travel agent

Keep your Page Active

Keep your page active by posting different activities. Add stories, pictures and videos on daily basis to engage your customers and visitors. Try to make a schedule for your posting so that your visitors do not have to wait. Keep adding engaging and informative content to retain your customers. The activities should be relative and well presented.

Below is Toyota’s Instagram page, where they keep adding content to keep it active.

Toyota's Instagram page

Respond to Comments

People ask different questions in the comments before making a decision. So it is recommended that all the queries be addressed. This will ensure your page is active and you care about your visitors. This will lead to convertible traffic on your web page.

Read | Benefits of Technical SEO

Add User Reviews and Testimonials

User reviews and testimonies are very important in the present day. Add these to your social media page, as people value reviews and testimonies before making a purchase decision. Stats suggest that nearly half of social media users rely on recommendations from influencers and celebrities.

Try to engage the influencers and famous personalities for the reviews. Customers idealize these people and give them high value. Hence, it will increase traffic to your main page and good conversion as well.

Announce Deals and offers.

Different deals and offers on social media are also a good way to increase the traffic to your platform. People like to save money, and they love discount deals and offers as well. Announce them on your social media pages as they quickly become viral.

Microblogs

Different social media apps offer different numbers of words words to describe your feelings or caption a picture. Try to write engaging, mesmerizing, informative, up-to-date, and relevant content to engage the people for your product. These microblogs should have the latest information and be free of any plagiarized content.

Add High-Quality Pictures

Add High-Quality Pictures

A picture can compensate 1000 words, so add HD pictures to understand better and describe your product. These pictures are a proven way to engage visitors. In recent years, people have become more addicted to pictures and videos. So, this is a good way to engage visitors.

The picture below shows the microblog from Nike’s Instagram page. Look how a well-crafted microblog complements the high-quality picture.

Reels and Shorts

Reels and shorts are very famous among social media users, and people spend a lot of time watching them. Try to make these reels and shorts of your services and product for quick virality.

More than 60% of watchers of branded videos on social media make a purchase decision. You have a maximum of 30 or 60 seconds to promote your product. So, be precise, relevant, and informative in these videos.

Use Multiple Social Media Platforms

Different social media apps have different benefits, so try to make your pages on as many platforms as possible. Each platform offers different services. For example, Instagram offers to load pictures and videos and add text only in their caption, whereas you can use Facebook to add text only as well.

Some apps are more famous in one part of the world than others. For example, Facebook and Instagram are very famous in Asia, whereas LinkedIn is the most trusted app in the US. So, try to tailor your social media campaigns based on the popularity of a particular social media app.

Read | How to Increase Google Ranking of My Website

Benefits of Social Media

Benefits of Social Media

Social media is the mainstream digital marketing source and it has many benefits. Following are some of the benefits of using social media

Quick Access to the Customers

Since every smartphone user can access social media, it gives quick access to your customers. It helps you to disseminate the information quickly. Getting your product famous and viral is rather easy on social media.

Gender and Geolocation Customization

Social media also helps you to run the campaign in a particular location. For example, while watching the same content, Facebook and YouTube ads differ in India and the UK. So, such customization is really handy to reach potential customers.

Moreover, you can also customize your campaign to gender and age. If you only have a product related to ladies, you can customize your campaign to only the ladies.

More Organic Traffic

Social media drives more organic traffic to your main website, thus playing a key role in ranking your website in SERPs. So keep your page active and try to share it on different other pages and forums for more traffic.

More visibility

Since social media have more access to a diverse audience, it increases your visibility. Add captivating content so people share your posts among their friends’ lists. This really helps to gain visibility quickly.

More Searchable

More traffic and visibility make your brand and platform more searchable on the search engine result pages. If your web page is famous and active, people will likely have already started searching your platform on Google. Your visibility will improve once more people search for you on the website.

Cost Effective Advertisement

Social media is a cheap way to advertise your brand, as a large number of people interact on social platforms. Moreover, you can advertise your content by text, high-quality pictures and videos. By doing so, you can target all three types of content readers, which is difficult to find on other forums.

Read | Best SEO Tools for Beginners

Conclusion.

An SEO strategy without social media is like curry without spices. Forget whether Google ranks your page in the SERPs; have your social media presence and run the business. Social media also offers marketplaces and online stores where you can directly open your store for business.

Finding someone who does not use a social media app is very rare. With the availability of cheap smartphones and reasonable data plans, the number of social media users has increased manyfold. These users buy products from links on different social media pages, giving rise to online businesses. Social media is part and parcel of our life. It gives us entertainment, news, business, marketplace, online store, etc.

So, have your social media presence preferably on each social media app, as your main aim is to attract more traffic on platforms. Following are the tips for using social media.

  • Make your profile informative and attractive for a better understanding of your niche.
  • Keep adding posts, pictures and videos to keep your page active.
  • Announce deals and offers on social media for quick business.
  • Try to add blogs, pictures and videos to attract more visitors.

Following are some of the benefits of using social media.

  • It gives you quick access to your customers.
  • It is easy to spread information on social media.
  • It attracts more organic traffic to your platform.
  • It also promotes your business, so you get more visibility and shareability.
  • It is the cheapest way to advertise your business and page.

So, Social media presence is a necessity rather than a luxury, and it is a requirement of modern-day business. So, make your business more productive and profitable by accessing more audiences using social media.

About The Dlinx Outreach

Dlinx Outreach is an SEO agency that formulates a customized social media SEO strategy to earn you unbeatable publicity, visibility, traffic, popularity, and long-term business. Dlinx offers social media advertising, link building, content marketing, and many more services. Feel free to contact us for further information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Google use social media signals for ranking?

Google does not use social media signals directly in its ranking process. Still, social media helps to gain high value of parameters like organic traffic that greatly impact Google’s Ranking.

Which social media app is good for business?

There is no straightforward answer to this. Try to have your presence on all your available social media apps. You may search for the most famous app in your location for more emphasis.

How important are visuals in gaining traffic?

Visuals are very important in attracting traffic, as these are easy ways to pass the information.

How does social media help to disseminate information?

Every smartphone user has a social media app. So, it is the quickest and easiest way to disseminate the information.

How important is it to keep your page active and add reviews?

It is very important to keep your page active to show the seriousness of your business. Similarly, adding reviews of influencers motivates the customer to make a purchase decision.

Does Dlinx help run the social media campaign?

Yes, Dlinx helps to run the social media campaign on different platforms.

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Haiqa Saleem

Haiqa Saleem

Haiqa is head of content at Dlinx Outreach. She is an avid writer and bookworm and has been with Dlinx since 2019. As a true tech geek and an extraordinary content strategist, she leverages her passion for the digital sphere and love for writing to share her knowledge through insightful content. She writes with a data-driven perspective.
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