Facebook, Twitter Hugely Important In SEO Ranking, Reveals Study [INFOGRAPHIC]

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is all about the quality of your backlinks, right?

Wrong. Not any more. At least, not wholly, as an updated study from those good people at Searchmetrics has revealed just how important social media signals are to a strong SEO ranking, with well-positioned URLs almost always having a high number of Likes, shares, tweets and +1s.

Indeed, seven of the ten most important factors in SEO ranking now come from social media, as below.

[caption id="attachment_3059" align="aligncenter" width="271"] SEO Ranking Factors Chart[/caption]

Searchmetrics have also documented their findings in this infographic, which takes a closer look at what well-positioned web pages on Google have in common, and what distinguishes them from pages that are lower-ranked.

[caption id="attachment_3063" align="aligncenter" width="304"] SEO Ranking Factors InfoGraphic[/caption]

(Source: Searchmetrics.)

Top 5 Social Media Sites for Small Business SEO

[caption id="attachment_587" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Social Media Sites[/caption]

With recent advancements in Google's search algorithms, it's no longer a question that social media sites have a profound influence on search engine rankings. Now, the real question is how does social media influence rankings?

The first social variable that impacts SEO stems from "social signals." These are Likes, Tweets, +1's, Pins, Shares, etc., that individuals attribute to a webpage. When a specific page, whether a blog post or YouTube video, has a wealth of social signals, its SEO-value increases.

Think of this as Google's way of knowing that real people find the content of a webpage credible and interesting, and thus deserving of higher search engine rankings.

The second social variable centers on the brand or business's profile page. In addition to providing a quality link back to its website, some social media websites enable companies to build citations.

Citations, which are simply mentions of a company's name, address, and phone number, help to make its website appear more credible and legitimate from the perspective of search engines. For local SEO and earning a higher placement in Google's local search listings, simply put, citations are the bee's knees. These are important variables that any small business marketer should keep top of mind.So now that you understand how social media sites influence SEO, let's get to the good stuff: the top social media sites for SEO.

#1: Facebook: Similar to Pinterest, Facebook profile pages can also rank in top of the search results (depending on how competitive a keyword is). Beyond SEO, Facebook offers a massive and widespread audience to connect with.

SEO Tip: Again just like Pinterest, try to include your keyword targets in the profile page's URL and in the description. Also, include a link (or better yet, a clearly visible icon) on your website that links to your Facebook page. This will help promote more likes and help grow your audience (making your page more authoritative for SEO.)

#2: Twitter: Twitter carries a great deal of SEO potential for small businesses. Tweets and re-tweets are among the most powerful social signals for SEO. So when you share your website's content on Twitter, and it's well-liked amongst your followers, its overall ranking potential increases.

SEO Tip: Take the time to reach-out, follow, and re-tweet posts of like-minded influencers and businesses. The greater the following you can cultivate, the greater exposure (and social signal potential) your tweets will have.

#3: Google+: Although an emerging social media platform (and one many small businesses overlook), Google+ offers incredible SEO potential in many respects. Google+ Local pages (which have replaced Google Places pages) are what appear in the Google Local search listings (the dedicated local results accompanied by the map with little pins.) A well-populated Google+ Local page will empower your small business' ranking potential in these listings. Additionally, Google+ page also provides a backlink as well as citation for you website.

What's nice is that you do not need to spend a lot managing a Google+ page for your business. Simply building a presence and ensuring your page contains accurate information will provide significant SEO benefits.

SEO Tip: After you've built a Google+ page for you business, include the suggested "site verification" link on your website (directing back to the Google+ page). This linking tells Google that your company's website and Google+ page are one of the same entity. This can be found on your profile page (while in edit mode), and essentially it ties everything together.

#4: LinkedIn: From a search engine perspective, LinkedIn is one of the most trusted and authoritative social domains. This why you see LinkedIn pages of both professionals and companies ranking well in the search results (similar to Facebook and Pinterest pages). LinkedIn "shares" are also incredibly potent for SEO. And at the very least, by creating a LinkedIn profile for your business, you get a quality backlink to your website, as well as trusted citation.

SEO Tip: Just like Twitter (and virtually all social media platforms), connect with as many colleagues and friends as you can. A strong LinkedIn following will increase your page's search engine authority, in addition to increasing the likelihood that your LinkedIn posts get shared. You can also include keywords in your page's content, but be careful not to degrade the quality of your page with over-optimization.

#5: Pinterest: Not only do Pinterest profile pages rank well in the search engines, but you get a nice DoFollow backlink to your website. Setting-up a Pinterest page is super easy. The time-consuming part is creating pin boards and pinning images (which can be effectively done by investing about 20 minutes a week.)

SEO Tip: When building your Pinterest page, use keywords to describe your pinboards, as well as define the URL and description of your profile page (e.g. "Atlanta Tax Attorney")

Stop Collecting And Start Engaging Your Twitter Follows: A How-To

[caption id="attachment_537" align="aligncenter" width="672"] Twitter Engagement Methods[/caption]

Twitter is more than just a place for you to tweet your own information, it is a community where you can engage your followers in online conversation. Engaged followers are more likely to respond to your tweets and re-tweet your messages. This helps your tweets reach more Twitter users and allows you to gain more followers. Listed below are some basic methods and steps on how to properly engage followers.

On Twitter:

• Do not go into all guns blazing


• Listen, get to know people there


• Research to find out if people are interested in what you want to talk about


• Tweet as you’d like to be tweeted to


• Engage people and have conversations


• Don’t simply shout out broadcasts

On engagement:

• Reply to what people


• Being interested is more interesting


• Listen and show you are aware of what others say


• Ask questions so people can do the same back


• Use contests on your blog to engage people

On the biggest mistakes people make blogging:

• Lack of focus and covering too many different topics


• Plan what you want to say, identify your audience and what your audiences wants to know


• Look after the people you’ve already got


• The more “me” you say, the more people say “go away”


• Write for your audience and not yourself or what you are interested in

On attraction

• Great content is key


• Networking wherever you go


• Mention your blog when you can and include a call to action with a benefit to your audience

Content is King, but a king without an army is a man in a funny hat:

• Content is crucial but not everything


• You also need promotion


• Mobilize your fans to become your advocates

Using Twitter for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The first step to using Twitter as an optimization tool is opening an account. While Twitter seems straightforward, having a username and writing a few tweets does not automatically bring a following. In order to maximize Twitter for SEO, you need to generate quality content and interact with other users. Social media is all about networking online. Making sure you are associating your brand with the best influencers is key to spreading content.

Twitter assists with SEO in several ways. First, having a Twitter account allows your brand to be exposed to millions of users. Second, having content retweeted creates more links for your company. Third, Twitter interaction establishes trust with your prospective customers and clients. You can see my Twitter feed for some examples of this.

Just as we do with blogs and web site content, using keywords in Twitter statuses can be very helpful when it comes to search engine optimization. Search engines like Google will quickly pick up the added links, and keywords will assist with categorization.

When creating a Twitter account, follow influencers who are relevant to your brand. If you specialize in home goods, following people who focus on interior design, kitchen products, and even homemakers can be good choices for influencers. These people can help you connect with followers who are already interested in what your company offers.

There are tools, like Twellow, which can help you find influencers. However, sometimes it takes some old fashioned research. Search for well-known brands and companies in your industry, then network with their social media. Creating these connections takes time: interact with other users, answer questions that offer insight into your expertise, and create customer incentives.

While a lot of brands that are new to social media shy away from contests and prizes, viewing these practices as “gimmicks”, this has become a staple of social media. In fact, running a contest that retweets your content in order to win a prize is one of the single most effective ways of generating legitimate links for search optimization while getting the word out about your brand.

Big companies, like Starbucks and Target, offer the opportunity to win a $10 gift card if you retweet the status. The tweet will usually say something like, “Frappuccino Happy Hour is back!  Retweet to win a $10 gift card!”. Also included will be a short link to information on Starbucks’ website about the Frappuccino Happy Hour. As you can see, this serves three purposes: growing your twitter audience, driving traffic to your website, and creating links for SEO.

In addition to providing contests, companies use their Twitter accounts for customer support. If a customer has an issue, they might tweet at the company. The company can then respond, in real time, with an answer to their question or a solution. Customers see this active assistance as a testament to the brand, and customers are more likely to trust and continue to buy from that company.

Since Twitter has 288 million active monthly users and has been growing at a tremendous rate, this platform should not be ignored in any social media outline. Twitter requires more posts than any other social network to get noticed, so make sure you familiarize yourself with HootSuite or Tweetdeck in order to most effectively manage content.