Do Social Media Mentions Improve SEO?

Do social signals increase search engine rankings? In other words, can you improve a page’s search engine ranking by mentioning it extensively on social media? Many digital marketers believe you can and believe that’s exactly what you should do. They cite studies by Moz, Searchmetrics and others

However, Eric Enge, CEO of digital marketing agency Stone Temple Consulting, disagrees with that assertion. In a post for Convince & Convert, he cites three reasons why that common view is wrong:

Google has repeatedly denied it uses social signals for SEO ranking.

By using the “no follow” tag on links, the major social media sites instruct search engines to not assign PageRank through those links.

The studies proponents cite on social signals only measure correlation; they don’t measure causation. There is a strong correlation between eating ice cream and drowning deaths. They both happen when it’s hot out. A common factor causes both. One does not cause the other.

Correlation vs. Causation

The same correlation without causation applies to social media sharing and great content. People share great content and link to it. It’s possible for social sharing to increase incoming links as people discover content through social media and link to it from their own websites and blogs. Those additional links boost SEO.

Links from websites and blogs improve search engine ranking; social media promotion of content attracts links from websites and blogs. Indirectly, then, social media mentions can improve search engine ranking for a specific piece of content.

“The key to using social media to drive SEO is to build it to be your very own PR channel to promote your great content,” Enge says. “When done properly, this will create a powerful synergy between your content publishing, social media, and SEO programs.

“You can debate with me the assertions I made about social media directly driving SEO rankings, but at the end of it all, whether it is directly causing it, or just acting as an effective PR channel does not matter,” he concludes. “Effective social media campaigns can impact your SEO, and are one of the most important reasons for building a social media presence.”

Social Media’s Significant Role in SEO

Dario Zadro, a web strategist at Zadro Web, writing for Search Engine Journal says his tests show that heavy amounts social signals correspond with strong domain authority. He lacks hard data and the relationship does not prove causation, he concedes.

Social media can drive significant traffic to websites, both organically and through paid channels, and Google likes to see large amounts of traffic from social media, and even no-follow links from your social media profiles can be a real asset.

“Google may not be telling us the true value of social signals, but there’s no doubt it plays a large part in SEO,” he says. “It should be clear that social has a significant role to play when it comes to launching and maintaining a successful SEO strategy.”

However, most links resulting from social channels are not nearly as powerful as editorial links from media outlets, Zadro notes. That observation highlights the importance of public relations improving search engine rankings.

Create Your Own PR Channel

“The real power comes from synergy: Your social media sites should be your own PR channel, aligning content with your target audience for maximum impact,” agrees Brian Hughes, owner of Integrity Marketing and Consulting. “That’s why social sharing is one of the fundamentals of a successful SEO strategy.”

Most social media marketing creates a temporary bump in website traffic. If you really want social signals to boost your brand’s visibility in search results, your business needs a clear plan for steady, sustained traffic amplification and ongoing lead engagement, Hugh writes in Social Media Week.

Bottom Line: Do social signals impact SEO? That’s an ongoing debate in digital marketing circles. The truth is complicated. While Google claims that social signals are not a factor in search engine results, digital marketing experts assert that they are – if only in an indirect way.