For the uninitiated, digital marketing might be seen as a unified toolset that can be applied similarly across every project to improve results and profits for a customer. However, there is a division in digital marketing, between SEO and social media, that has been shaping the industry for years.
On one hand, we have the camp of SEO enthusiasts. Using optimised links, page rankings and cleaver tactics, they can improve every piece of content on a website. On the other hand, we have the social media savants. This group has a keen eye for developing viral content with engagement, sharing and likes as their primary directive.
The dispute has its roots in a fundamental concept for marketing websites, as according to Google specialists, social media content does not interfere with SEO rankings. With that in mind, each tool is completely independent of the other. Furthermore, the success of SEO strategies might not even mean anything for your social media presence, and vice-versa.
However, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. In an attempt to unify all marketing camps, we have compiled a guide about this. With it, we hope it helps you see how SEO and social media can work together to boost your online success.
1. The Difference Between Strategies
For years, there was a sort of cold war in the marketing playing field with each side claiming to be the best for results. Every time social media developed a new tool, SEO responded with yet another process to make their optimisation better.
Social media strategies are based on providing organic validation to your content by linking across multiple platforms. The primary goal being to raise awareness through viral content, engagement and sharing. In this way, social media focuses on long-term solutions via growing an audience of supporters for a brand, company or product. It is a continuous process that improves and evolves whenever the audiences migrate to different social media providers.
As the name says, a Search Engine Optimisation Strategy is developed around search platforms. By now, we know that 99.9% of the time this means Google. So, by focusing on improving your content, SEO strategists can assure better rankings on a website. While there are multiple long-term solutions for SEO, teams mostly test multiple combinations of tags and keywords that can be changed in a short-term capacity.
When talking about sharing online content, there is no singular solution to each different issue. Some businesses prefer a social media-focused strategy, others tend to prefer SEO. Both have their strong suits to be highlighted and flaws to be fixed.
2. How Social Media Affects SEO
What is the desired result when we combine an optimized website with an engaging social media strategy? For a long time, marketers were under the impression that the two were mutually exclusive. For starters, one deals with proprietary websites while the other is gated on social networks that do not rank particularly well on Google.
Those so-called facts were always questioned by specialists that saw how the day-to-day results deviated from this set in stone reality. These questions and misconceptions lasted until 2018 when a study by Hootsuite put to test the validity of SEO’s lack of connection with social media. What the test team realized changed the way we see both marketing tools forever.
According to the research, a well-planned social media post can increase the effectiveness of SEO strategies by up to 22% when compared to posts that don’t rely on this tactic. In a world of ever-increasing content, this is an incredible edge to have and develop for your business.
3. How to Implement a Social SEO Strategy
The findings on Hootsuite’s research showed that social media, while not directly impacting page rankings, is a perfect support tool for your content. Sure, the connection between the two is indirect. But the benefits of developing a joint plan are fundamental to long-term success.
Social media has a pivotal role in regards to the realms of brand recognition, visibility, geographic SEO and content lifespan. Better results on those factors will always be helpful to an overall strategy.
By having an improved social media presence, the chances your company will be queried on Google are significantly better. Which in turn, will improve its overall page ranking. The shorter copy utilized on social media ensures that your original content can be divided and developed towards multiple posts. By linking these back to your website, you’ll generate a longer lifespan for your content, and boost organic traffic and visibility.
Webbiz is here to help
With specialists on both sides of the house, our team at Webbiz is the perfect one to tailor-make a social SEO strategy for your business. Get in touch and together we can start making your project a success.