SEO and Social Media

People always wonder does social media affect SEO and the answer is yes, yes, yes!! Social media is affecting your SEO in many ways, directly and indirectly. Proof on that is the fact that many search engines have some sort of deal or relationship with the social media sites. They're working together to some extent.

So how exactly does this work? Firstly, it is imperative for every website owner to create a Facebook and Twitter account. With the increase in use of all social networking sites, people are more prone to view 'likes' or read recommendations from any friends than to conduct a regular search. With the rise in bookmarking sites too, people find less of a need to search via a search engine. Though many people are afraid to plunge into this unknown bit of technology it is well worth it. By shying away because of fear of the unknown you are virtually handing your business over to the competition.

Aside from the social aspect, there is the search engine side. Both Google and Bing have created algorithms to read the social sites and translate the data. For example,a search engine who indexes a webmaster who is consistently updating his status or posting messages, adding on some information, etc, will convert the data to reflect a quality constantly being refreshed site. This will positively affect his search engine rankings! Additionally optimize your social media content correctly and the search engines can rate that too.

Indirectly, each time a friend 'shares' or 'likes' something that you have written or quoted, your link is being publicized and advertised to a larger audience. Additionally similar to standard backlinking, each time your link is shared with a trustworthy website it is a vote of quality added to your 'account'

Of course when adding in content it needs to be a well -written, easy to understand, quality information in order to generate the 'likes' and 'tweets' you are aiming for. No one is recommending poor quality information to a friend or following a shoddy product description.

The advantages to social media are only as limited as your imagination is. Social media can be used in so many aspects to positively affect your business. Create an account, update it with quality information, share useful tips and you are heading in a profitable direction!