Over the past few years, social media and SEO have evolved gradually. Today, building well-optimized sites with a multitude of keywords are the only way of getting good ranking in the SERPs. The intense growth and influence of platforms like Facebook and Twitter have changed content marketing and it’s not hard to see why so many people are now confused about where they should implement their digital marketing strategies. For other emerging means of communications in the digital age, take a look at this article.
It’s important to realize that onsite SEO is as important today as it was ten years ago (perhaps more today with increased competition). If you want to attract business online, then there’s simply no escaping the importance of getting your website optimized for search engines.
But, keywords are no longer sufficient. It’s important to pay attention to keyword usage and distribution, but it’s equally important how you choose keywords. Keywords are no longer effective in isolation and must always be used in context. It’s not good enough to have a pretty looking website anymore.
Social media platforms have been merged with the SEO approach. The architecture of social media networks is geared towards visibility and genuine peer approval and as such is hard to fake convincingly. It may well be possible to help the process with the appropriate use of hashtags, but it’s not hard for the search engines to see through this tactic.
With this wisdom of crowds approach, Google and other search engines have long been tapping into social signals to denote value to any given link or web page. Social media has replaced links in terms of importance, as more and more content gets created online and distributed on social media. If your content has a strong social media presence then this will boost not only your website, but it will likely increase the number of websites that link to you as well. In essence this is like a feedback loop: To do well in SEO nowadays it helps a lot to do well on social media as well. Also, keep track of the metrics.
Digital marketing expert Chloe Mason Gray notes:
“Google’s search algorithm ignores social signals should not be seen as an invitation for marketers to dismiss social’s impact on SEO. Instead, marketers should broaden their concept of search and SEO to take into account the myriad ways that people find content on the web. They also need to think about the positive effects that increased traffic from social can potentially have on their search rankings as well as the prominence of social profiles on first-page search results. Ultimately, the web is all about building relationships.”
Despite social and SEO clearly still co-existing as distinct marketing strategies, there really is no straight answer as to which is better for your business, as both boost the efforts you make. You simply can’t be creating content these days (onsite or offsite) without sharing it socially. Maybe it’s time to rethink your digital marketing strategies.
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