Social Media and the Impact it has on SEO

There is a lot talk about social media these days. From being a means of sharing information (forum), maintaining contact with friends (Facebook) and be heard on your own communication platform (blogs), social media has evolved into something that actually makes a big difference in the real world.  But what about the SEO and social media? Does it exist in social search? In this article we look at just that.

What is social search?

Social search is simply the name of a search made in a search engine whose results are affected by who is seeking. The idea behind the concept is that the more information a search engine may have about you, the more relevant search results may show. If you just google the word “truffle” it is difficult, indeed impossible, for Google to know if it’s chocolate truffle or truffle fungus you are referring to. All Google can do then is to show a neutral result algorithms that judge as relevant as possible (based on links, content, and all that we have reviewed in earlier columns).

But if you are active on Google + and constant circles in chocolate mills and chocolate manufacturers? And if you only see movies about chocolate making on YouTube? Slowly but surely, Google will be putting two and two together and start showing more and more chocolate truffles in your search results (and ad impressions).

In the same way, the social search with your contacts in social networks (like Google have access to). Google +1Is a good example of it, as well as relatively new Google Search Plus Your World. It’s all about relevance to those looking.

Does it work?

Yes and no. In some areas it works quite well, but one must remember that there are still many who do not like to Google +. Facebook and Twitter does not allow Google’s spiders to collect otherwise valuable and relevant data, and although more and more are googling while logged into their Google Account (which also means that you are logged) so the proportion is still small.

Tests have not been able to demonstrate that the links in social media reinforces a page’s rank, but it is clear that we as SEOs is right to have your ear tightly glued to the ground in this area.

What is the goal of your marketing and SEO?

So social search is still in its infancy, but that does not mean you should condemn social media for marketing purposes. The goal of your SEO is reasonable to drive traffic, and where social media plays a very important role. How and where to market themselves in these is a completely different post, but when it comes to optimization just for search engines is the connection to social media still pretty weak.