One of the biggest questions we receive about SEO and social media is regarding the relationship between them. There are certain aspects that are clear and basic, such as the way that Facebook and Twitter rank well on the major search engines. The part that people often misunderstand is the way social media, particular Twitter and Facebook, influence search rankings.
This is a long piece that we’re going to consolidate down into the basics. For the extended, more detailed version, please feel free to email me: jrucker@tkcarsites.com.
It’s Links, But Not The Way You Think
Most reputable SEO firms agree that inbound links are the most important aspect of SEO, particularly for challenging keywords. “Content is King” is a mantra that still applies, but the best content in world won’t rank for the tough keywords if it isn’t linked to by powerful sites. For long-tail, content is all you need. For high-volume keywords, you must have links.
There are social media link-building activities that work. Twitter and Facebook are not included in this group. The links on both sites are “nofollow” which means they do not pass “link juice” through to their target sites. As a result, they have no link benefit for ranking purposes.
But, You Just Said They Have An Effect On Rankings
They do. Twitter and Facebook influence rankings on both Google and Bing (and as a result, Yahoo, AOL, and others). While they do not pass link juice, they do have a social influence that is only barely understood by most and even contested by some.
Those who contest it are in denial.
Both of the search engines have acknowledged the significance of “social signals” being used in their rankings. They have both also acknowledge that bulk isn’t everything (possibly even anything) and that quality means much more than quantity.
This is where we would go into details, but it’s really something that can be broken down into a single recommendation: even if you aren’t sold on the power of social media as a marketing tool, you must be involved with social from a search perspective.
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Update: I wanted to get some supporting data to add to this and came across information straight from the horse’s mouth…
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This post was written by...
JD Rucker – who has written 15 posts on Automotive SEO. +JD Rucker is President of Hasai, Inc, a Social Media Firm, Director of New Media for KPA, an Automotive SEO firm, and Editor at Soshable, a Social Media Marketing Blog. Find him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
