Social Media- How Does It Affect My Google Ranking?

Social Media and My Google Ranking

2010 was the year when social media really started to make waves for small to mid-sized local businesses.  Facebook and YouTube became the most popular social media sites with dozens of others to follow suit.  Suddenly business owners were having to learn an entirely new paradigm in marketing their businesses.  In 2016, social relevance is one of Google’s major ranking factors, and business owners have now had to allocate marketing budgets for social media marketers and SEO specialists.

How and Why Does Social Media Affect My Google Ranking?

Let’s start the the how… Google algorithms are set up to pick up social signals.  Each time a business posts to their social media sites with those sites being linked to their websites, organic, inbound links are being created.  As people share, like, and interact with social posts, those signals send a message to Google that this must be a popular site with an active web presence.

The why is pretty simple… Google wants to deliver the results to the public that are the most relevant, and sites with social signals are seen as relevant.  It’s a way to put all businesses on the same playing field.  Business owners literally have to earn their rankings now by creating fresh, relevant content over time.  In the past, shady business owners could rely on black hat tactics to buy their way to the top of the rankings.   In addition, social media sites have become surrogate search engines.  Consumers will look on facebook to see if you have a legitimate business profile.

Jacquie Gonzalez, CDMC, PIM is an SEO expert at eNation Worldwide.