How Social Media Affects Online Search Rankings

Posted: August 02, 2016

[caption id="attachment_12789" align="alignright" width="300"] Image from socialmediatoday.com[/caption] Social media is a key element when it comes to content marketing and getting noticed. However, it may also play another role in your online presence. Learn how social media can affect a website's ranking in online searches. Julia McCoy, writer for Social Media Today, shares how social media affects search rankings.

Does Social Media Affect Your Rankings in Online Search?

While most people know that social media is a big deal in content marketing, not everyone understands how social media affects organic search results. And understandably so: the topic isn’t exactly cut-and-dry. The fact of the matter is that, while social media is an important ranking factor for search results, it’s likely that the process doesn’t work exactly the way you think it does. 

Contrary to what many people believe, Google doesn’t actually take social media directly into account in its ranking algorithm, but it does look at certain social signals to decide how to rank websites. Here’s what you need to know.

Google & Social Media: How Do They Play Together?

Google and social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have had a long and complex relationship. Like Brad and Angelina, they’re on-again and off-again. While social signals have long been used in Google algorithms, it’s not so much actual social media accounts that affect the algorithm as it is the results of those accounts. Read the entire article Does Social Media Affect Your Rankings in Online Search on Social Media Today.