Social media has become an integral part of any good marketing campaign, but does it bring down web site rankings? Sadly, a couple of uninformed, and perhaps paranoid, internet “gurus” have suggested this may be a possibility; however, in almost every case, the opposite is true. Those who have experience in the field of search engine optimization, the art of ranking a website highly in search engines, know that powerful, contextual and related links are the primary key to ranking well. At the moment, one of the best ways to stimulate natural link building is through social media, making it an essential SEO strategy that is certain to increase search engine rankings instead of dropping them.
The Root of Social Media Paranoia
Because using social media as an SEO tool is relatively new in comparison to traditional techniques, many have had a fear-based relationship with it out of ignorance. Initially, many believed that if one promoted a page with few likes, one could damage their ranking; however, this has since been disproved in many different case studies. In fact, more than ever, popular search engines such as Google are using social signals in order to organize their search results in an appropriate way, making social media essential in order to rank as highly as possible. Because of this, instead of shuddering at the thought of integrating social media, one should take full advantage of the sharing capabilities and social potential of these websites in order to promote one’s brand and increase search rankings.
Using Social Media to Increase Web Site Rankings
Because social media is so diverse, there are huge amounts of ways in which it can have an effect on one’s rankings. Luckily, as far as case studies have shown, the impact of all forms of social media has only been positive, especially for news-related websites. There are two primary ways in which social media can affect one’s website ranking, directly and indirectly.
The direct way in which social media can increase one’s rankings is most prominent for websites with fresh, time-relevant content; however, all websites will have some effect. Matt Cutts, spokesman for Google, has recently stated that social signals do have an impact on search results, though at the moment it is not very large. For more information on Matt Cutts’ take on social media, one can visit Search Engine Watch for more information. In order to take advantage of this, one should ensure that their website is social media friendly and promotes sharing and liking features.
The indirect means through which social media can affect rankings are vast, yet they are very powerful. Through social media, one can drastically increase traffic to their website. The effects of this are numerous; however, most importantly it means that there will be an increase in links to one’s webpages, which is a huge factor in ranking well. By creating a dedicated following through social media, one can also increase the likelihood of large amounts of inbound links, which will have huge long-term, positive, results on search engine rankings.
Because ranking well in popular search engines is one of the most effective ways to increase the profitability, and traffic, of one’s website, it is essential to invest time into creating a good social media campaign and presence. By properly taking advantage of social media, despite the misinformation, one can be certain that it will only have a positive impact on one’s web site rankings.
Follow
