Social Media & SEO Are BFF's

SEO + Social Media = True Love

It’s all about the signals we send.  At least, that’s what SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is all about.  Our search engines are evolving from money driven, single link searches, filled with spam and useless information.   “Sigh!” Finally, search engines like Google, Bing and Blekko are rethinking the algorithms they use to give us our search results.  Social Media is leading the way to easy and fast search results.  This month alone, “people share 30 billion pieces of content on Facebook and over 5 Billion tweets – about a quarter of which contain links to content”.  With so much information (or signals) flying about, it’s no wonder search engines are starting to incorporate Social Media. Every link that we post is a virtual vote for sites, leading them to climb the results of a search page! 

The Social Media Circle Of Life

We’re all connected in the circle of –Social Media- Life. Thriving companies have adapted to the Social Media wave, with tools like Google+.  Google+ allows users to have circles of friends within the search engine. Your search results will positively affect the search results within your circle. This personalisation of search engines can zero in on more useful content when providing results. And these circles expand to take in other circles like Twitter and Facebook... You see where we’re going with this, right? Every bit of information is used to get you proper results.  A great example of tools such as Google+ changing results on their search engine is, when Danny Sullivan, the Editor of SearchEngineLand.com, added Ford to his “friends” list.   Making Ford a “friend” on the Google+ tool skyrocketed Ford to the top of the search engine, when searching cars. Mr. Sullivan has so many circles within circles that his positive image of Ford echoed into many other circles.

Your personal opinion can greatly affect the outcome of a search, its amazing!

With all these new ways to connect people to their search engines, Social Media is redefining the quality of results. Groups of people sharing and idea can make a movement and that movement can be seen and read about. Top spot goes to democracy once again.  A small, high-quality company can, over-night, become a world renowned company. Isn’t it lovely? Thank goodness for SEO, quality assurance by the people.

Source: "How Social Media Affects Content Relevance In Search", Shane Snow