SEO Guidelines: Social is important, but it’s not everything
SEO has been around since 1995. As a profession, internet marketers, or SEO consultants, wear a variety of hats and function under a variety of titles. Some operate in-house for large companies and keep abreast of coding and on-site issues that could change SEO rankings, while others work for companies and mainly help with social media posts that can also improve rankings. . It’s a diverse workforce with many different facets, but the ever-changing SEO space lends itself to a staff that’s easily adaptable and able to keep abreast of changing trends that can keep your business at the top of search. . One of the biggest and most recent changes in SEO practices involves the social aspect of SEO rankings. Matt Cutts, head of Google’s web spam team, has led a variety of webcasts suggesting that social media will become a major ranking factor within search engine rankings. It makes sense, social networks have infiltrated our lives; it’s about time they took over our search space too. People active on social media (which are an initial 74% women and 62% men according to a 2013 study) are used to receiving recommendations from their friends through online media. Since search engine updates are written around searcher behavior, it makes sense that social media would become a part of search. So far, Google hasn’t confirmed that they’re using any social indicators within their search results, but their direct foray into social media via Google+ shows they’re interested. And, SEO specialists need to listen.
It is, however, a very fine line. In a struggle to stay ahead of the constant changes within search, SEO companies can have a tendency to move too fast. While it’s important to stay on top of search trends, the basics of search engine optimization have hardly changed over the years. Solid, quality content and backlinks are still the best “juice” for search ranking. And while social media is important and will most likely become a major factor in search, it can’t and shouldn’t become the only SEO strategy your business uses.
Social metrics can be useful and valuable to companies as a method of measuring engagement. Social is also a great way to judge the brand, but social metrics are easy to manipulate. Fake social profiles can be created by those who are intent on damaging your brand, and while it sounds like a bit of a stretch, it’s not. Facebook had approximately 83 million fake or duplicate accounts in 2012, and researchers suggest that one in 10 Twitter accounts is fake. Spammers can quickly generate thousands of likes on these sites, creating a huge problem for search when it comes to credibility and backlinks.
Also, Google does not have full access to external spider social platforms. Sure, they can crawl their own Google+ site, but it has yet to reach universal adoption. Google+ has been widely accepted in SEO circles, primarily due to the social platform’s ability to author and organize content, but typical Internet users have been far less eager to use it. In fact, even Google+’s ranking as the fifth largest social networking platform is open to question, since a Google+ profile is created with every Gmail account, yet many of these users never log into the social side of the program. .
SEOs should always keep an eye on emerging trends, such as social media, but all research suggests that backlinks continue to be the strongest SEO tool available. If your business is ready to compete in search, contact an internet marketing or search engine optimization company that knows how to write and promote backlink-rich copy on your website that will rank you online.
