SEO And Social Signals: Can It Help You Rank?

In the Search Engine Optimization industry, there is always a debate about whether or not something directly and truly affects ranking. Such is the case when it comes to social signals. Many SEO experts and even Google itself will tell you that Social Signals don’t directly impact a website’s Search Engine Results Page (SERP) ranking. However, some digital marketers still believe that social signals can influence and improve a website’s chances at ranking for keywords. Let’s find out the real answer.

What are Social Signals?

First, we need to understand what social signals are. In a nutshell, Social Signals are likes, views, shares, votes, comments, pins, or any social media fingerprint people leave on social media platforms like Facebook and Youtube. These authoritative social platforms can get filtered out by various search engines like Google, which is why their influence on SEO ranking has been much-debated about. But the truth is, social signals can indicate if a brand is being talked about by consumers, which helps improve SERP ranking. Why? It’s because signals from these popular and trusted platforms are recognized as valuable by Google and other search engines. Which brings us to the question…

Can Social Signals help you rank for your target keywords?

The short and decisive answer is, yes it does. However, Social Signals doesn’t help a site’s SEO in the way you think. So how exactly do social signals affect SEO? Let’s try to break it down.

Before we go any deeper, it’s important to note that it is impossible to prove Social Signal’s effect on SEO. Google and its employees are very tight-lipped about Google’s algorithm. In truth, nobody really knows the magic formula that will solve SEO successfully. In fact, Google’s high ranking generals like Garry Illysis and Matt Cutts have both, in the past, confirmed that social signals do not directly affect how they rank websites.

Saying that, there are things we simply can’t ignore nor deny. Take this 2016 paper from Searchmetric, Rebooting Ranking Factors White Paper,

“The correlation between social signals and ranking position is extremely high, and the number of social signals per landing page has remained constant when compared to with the values from last year’s white paper. … The top-ranked websites in Google’s rankings display vastly more social signals than all other pages…. This is primarily due to the overlap between brand websites performing strongly in social networks and being allocated top positions by Google.”

Perhaps social signals don’t necessarily cause sites to rank higher or lower in SERPs. However, they correlate somehow. If we’re talking about what makes sense, think about this scenario. Any type of content that gets viral are shared, liked, commented on in social media platforms including a link to the website source. If you take in the basic workings of SEO, it only makes sense that links from these social signals will improve ranking, right?

How Social Signals (Indirectly) Help You Rank

1. Backlinks

Suffice it to say, the more your content is shared across social media platforms, the more opportunity you have to acquire quality backlinks. In fact, one company manage to land on the top 1 Google page result after it acquired over 130,000 Facebook shares.

2. Audience Building

In today’s market, customers no longer just flock to you. This is the world of social media, and you need to engage. For your business to success, you need to be proactive in building your audience, which is why you need to manage your social media presence well.

3. Promotion

What better place to promote your business than social media? Take Youtube, for instance. Although technically not a search engine itself, Youtube is the second most-used search engine in the world. You can capitalize on this and create engaging content to promote your products or services.

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SeBWsY

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2LpPpvB

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A3MVyo

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QFb1Kq

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EtVOoc

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SWKiFP

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2GrxOER

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2R1DE3P

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2R6OHsk

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Br0MPl

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2R6oM44

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A3AMcW

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2UPIkJ4

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2BqHcTu

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PKJIsx

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2R2hmyV

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2R7jiWI

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2LnuFVm

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PM0lEf

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2S7IABx

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A7or7z

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QBkjXH

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Bq6DEG

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2BvBnEm

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2STGt45

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Lq1wJ8

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Low65X

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QBvkbA

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2BtjLsv

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EuEdfS

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PKApsU

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EBXTPO

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2R2H5ah

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Gp6OWo

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A422YX

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PLYIqr

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Btkqu8

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2POABaF

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2rK4Y8A

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QD1d3j

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2GsTHnf

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Lo3jyo

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2R9up1k

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A7Vicp

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2GsYtRH

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A8hymm

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QZyd5t

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2BwlhKj

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2LmWRrg

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Brob3c

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2rGzJuU

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QGExzq

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PMvFTs

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Cm9Zdq

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2rJAGTh

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QFoFNB

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SfRsos

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2GszbDh

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QFb3Sj

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2LrgxdF

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Ln4zla

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SReNNa

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SbpCKc

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2rItJBR

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2R2wZXa

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2BwL6dd

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A6TW1L

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SVsRoX

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SW1ZFC

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2rJxc2Y

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2S4wB7v

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2URanYN

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SUSBBZ

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PKuZxW

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EEvGb7

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A3xmHi

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2rM9naJ

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2rMf20J

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2BryJzj

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SVaAbx

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2rLyzyi

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EDkn2Y

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2S3SJPw

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2GuuEQv

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2CmRbe2

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EvmEvZ

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2BrnaYL

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QGVuK6

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2ExAnCr

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2rIt3fV

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SRWrvu

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SYfiFo

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2R7ul2a

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SS4DvK

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2R7Er34

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2CmA4Ju

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QZs2hR

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PIlNdv

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2R4ANag

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SVCQe3

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EwCczO

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2CmVlCE

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2BucrNb

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QC2lEx

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2rIZhHV

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QEKnkF

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2LoBeXD

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EBSyIj

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2ECp7FW

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PLc4D3

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SXYxdj

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2UUZrJA

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SYVcea

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Cogdtv

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Sh1QfG

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2T0jCEe

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EF30ia

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2ClLAES

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2GuRBmC

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Bqx9NW

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EGcR7a

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QDWDSL

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2R5jLZx

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2LqI8f5

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EDQhMy

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Lqp0xF

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2rJiDfM

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2UXO43y

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EwPM6a

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2BsEGvT

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2RazeHO

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PNBn7B

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QLiKXu

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QCKrkW

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PLWR4F

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2rNzhLf

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EyOVC7

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2UWHRoz

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2CoIwYE

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2rKMvIN

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Coks8m

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SgoF3v

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SZUf5k

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2CmQz8m

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2rN0Vbs

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2rHrE9o

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EDLURQ

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SU1P1a

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EDo5JJ

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SU6EYq

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2S9nZMZ

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Scfz7y

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2ExB9zq

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PTiSPm

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A8NzuA

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A9ZW9P

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A8rRXT

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A4jLz9

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EGNUJ9

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A6iUyi

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2BvPWYt

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2BuhnBO

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Sdq1Mm

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2USgzQd

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2V0qdjB

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A8LSNY

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Gve4jB

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2GvcNc9

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SaQQAL

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SXSVQk

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QDwSBT

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2LrlfrN

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2rHRk5M

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EBlRKQ

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Cqg8W1

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2LsoGPc

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QGBSWn

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2POqanh

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EEdqhW

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2RahXyv

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SXXIRV

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SanTF2

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EFwFHP

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SgX7uQ

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A9Hj5V

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2T0VNfo

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2R9onxV

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2LsJYfB

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Ra1Tg9

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PQBcZ4

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2UUlO1I

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2R6fDbW

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2PQ8AiN

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2LsSvPF

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EwOvvW

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2CpISy3

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EwSpoA

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Sa9l8n

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QIdJ1J

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2QF5xiF

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2ScNYTM

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2V0EFsa

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A7s1ib

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EIBIr8

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2EFu9Bo

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2UXF4eO

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2SakDcL

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Cpogpz

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2Ls9AsO

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2V0wg7L

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2A86B4d

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2GwdMsL

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2CqtnGg

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2AaW8Fh

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2RdgV4I

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2POSshu

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2T6XOqD