Very soon, companies operating in keenly competitive niches sans having a strong social strategy will be left in the lurch by those that have it. Social signals, incidentally, are coming up as the new ‘links’ in the field of ranking algorithm. Even though the importance of link as ranking signal may not fade away like filtered cigarettes in the near future, direct/ indirect social signals are likely to take over the hot seat, surpassing links as the omnipotent ranking factor.
How and why
(a) Gone are the days of social rigidity – the world is becoming more social now. Today’s children who will be tomorrows consumers are already communicating through social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and many more. Interestingly enough, as of now, people spend most of their waking hours on social networks than on search engines while the future generation is likely to zero in through it in an all-inclusive way.
(b) People have learnt to look for a website that has been recommended by friends and colleagues than by an alien search engine. Moreover, sites with friendly social presence prove more shareable and accessible and so can be safely endorsed and recommended. Search engines are also ready to analyze these shares as recommendations, thus boosting the credibility (and rankings) of the site.
(c) Sites with sound social presence are found to have better conversion ratio and higher brand loyalty, leading to more sales, higher word-of-mouth referrals, which in turn lead to more encouraging reviews and inbound links.
Apart from social signals gradually overtaking inbound links as the most crucial ranking signal, there is also a generous trend towards implementing AuthorRank as a ranking signal. The concept of associating content with an author, rather than the website on which it resides, is evident in Matt Cutts’ December 2010 Webmaster video “Does Google use data from social sites in ranking?”
However, while Cutts elaborated on the subject by saying “ …..We’re also trying to figure out a little bit about the reputation of an author or creator on Twitter or Facebook”, Google expanded on this idea beyond just Twitter and Facebook by implementing Google Authorship. It allows Google to track authors across domains and assign authority and credibility to their content, allowing that content to not only rank higher in search engines for certain queries, but also pass more value to the outbound links contained within.
What can I do to improve my site’s social signals?
To be precise, there are two major elements to social media – Onsite and Offsite. If you intend to establish and develop any social media campaign, both the elements need to be nurtured.
Onsite elements constitute
- Share buttons such as: like, recommend, tweet, bookmark, etc
- Connect buttons such as: Like a Facebook page, Follow on Twitter, Follow on LinkedIn, etc.
- A blog
Offsite elements constitute
- Twitter account
- Facebook page
- LinkedIn company page
- Pinterest account
- YouTube account
- Guest blog posting
- Other miscellaneous media platforms
Step-by-step guide for creating your social media presence
Step # 1
Inscribe your business with the social channels listed above. Just having presence at each social channel gives rise to inbound links as also establishes credibility of your brand.
Step # 2
Set up your company blog, if you don’t already have one. Thereafter, go on blogging at least once a week. Ideally, aim for at least once a day. Don’t just blog for the sake of blogging, though; make sure your articles contain useful, valuable, or original (qualified) material.
Step # 3
Set up your onsite content engine. Whether you choose to do the blogging or you hire an expert writer to write for your blog, this step is important. If you opt for professional writers to write company blogs for a month or so, your organic search traffic is likely to jump up to 27.80% or more. Also, more content on a domain gives that domain more opportunities to rank for related search queries and accrue inbound links, which, in turn, strengthens the authority of the domain as a whole.
Step # 4
Set up your offsite content engine. If you don’t have time to participate on your Facebook page and Twitter account, then hire someone to do it for you. The title “Community Manager” is probably the fastest-growing job title right now due to the need for savvy social media marketers to manage a brand’s social presence. If you can not afford a full-time community manager, hire any college intern. Most of today’s college students are very familiar with social media channels and know very well how to effectively use them.
Step # 5
As a final step, integrate your onsite and offsite content engines. Every time a new blog post is published, let it be known through your social channels. Also, persuade blog readers to join your social channels with social media “connect” buttons that enable readers to easily follow you on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+. Add social media “share” buttons so your blog content can easily be tweeted, shared on Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. Do not forget to include images in your blog posts so Pinterest users can pin your images.
Conclusion:
Social signals have come a long way in terms of their impact on SEO over the course of the last few years. We’ve gone from asking whether or not social signals play a role in organic rankings, to conducting numerous scientific studies in an attempt to determine the exact correlation between each type of social signal.