Both SEO and social media are key areas of digital marketing used by businesses to increase exposure and to get their content in front of a larger and more diverse audience.

But do they benefit each other? Is there any relationship between social media and search engine optimisation?

In short, social media can have a positive impact on your SEO strategy by adding another branch to your online presence which Google can interpret and link back to your business - showing how you provide value to users and creating high impact backlinks to your site. What’s more, social media is an excellent tool for increasing engagement with your brand or business online and is a good place to repurpose content and drive followers back towards your website.

In this blog post, we’re talking about the value of both social media and SEO for increased online success, before connecting the two to discuss how they work together.

The value of social media for business

Social media marketing is one of the best ways to connect with existing customers and prospective customers as a modern business. Users and customers from all demographics use social media to different degrees and across different platforms - creating an open opportunity to reach, connect with, and engage customers from all walks of life.

For those businesses who do their research and work to find out where their target audience spends time online, social media can be a valuable tool in both launching specific campaigns and nurturing a loyal group of customers. And it doesn’t end there, with social media a great place in which to blend direct marketing activity with valuable content, behind the scenes insight, and more - all providing your brand with a layer of personality that makes people want to connect with and buy from you.

The value of SEO for businesses

If you operate and manage a business with an online presence, you will no doubt be aware of the value of of search engine optimisation.

It is a multi-faceted approach to getting traffic from search engine queries directly to your website. It considers everything from your website’s stability to the user experience, the quality of your content, how regularly you post, and how often customers buy from and engage with you and determines how highly you should be ranked in the search results of Google and other search engines.

In terms of discovery online, SEO is crucial and can be influenced by a number of touch points - social media being one of them.

Here’s how to shape your social media so that it benefits your SEO.

How do social media and SEO support each other?

Social media presents an opportunity for businesses to both market to and connect with their audience, inspiring engagement and nurturing great relationships with customers. More than that, it is the ultimate feeder to websites, with social platforms now offering a variety of ways for business pages to drive and encourage users to click through to their website, via integrated links, shoppable posts, story updates, and more.

From an SEO point of view, this connectivity between social media and business websites means that an effective social presence can not only drive website visitors but demonstrate to Google a valuable presence across a selection of different touch points. The social signals which are transferred from social media shows trust and loyalty among customers, which in turn helps to boost your online website visibility. Although not a direct ranking factor, these social signals can have a positive impact on your website from an SEO point of view, as discussed in this brilliant post by Ahrefs.

Making social media and SEO work for you

Social media and SEO may not be directly linked in terms of building a marketing strategy, but the indirect connections highlight a need to intertwine and ensure that they two feed each other and work together.

With passion for all things marketing, online, and social, our team are here to advise on how to enhance your social media to boost your SEO, and how to connect all your different online platforms in cohesive harmony.

Get in touch with us to learn about our services and how we could help you.