If one of your goals is improving your business site’s ranking in search engines, consider focusing on social signals. They’re an important aspect that some people do not emphasize as much as other search engine optimization components but can be beneficial if improved alongside a larger SEO strategy.
What Are Social Signals?
Social signals are the likes, comments, shares and similar interactions that a website or social content receives. They can show that visitors care about what you publish and think it’s interesting enough to deserve their attention in the crowded online realm.
How Do Social Signals Impact SEO?
Some search engine representatives have not officially confirmed whether social signals directly impact SEO, making the subject one of ongoing debate among those in the industry and business owners trying to improve website performance. However, social signals can convey authority and increase site traffic, supporting better search engine performance.
Additionally, if people see your site has regularly updated and interesting content, they will be more likely to become repeat visitors. The likelihood of them taking other favorable actions rises when that happens.
How to Increase Your Site’s Social Signals
Once business owners, marketers and others understand how and why social signals positively affect SEO results, they may commit to making strategic improvements. What are some of the best ways to do that?
1. Understand the Audience’s Needs
People interact with social media and site content they perceive as relevant, useful and valuable. Parties aiming to increase social signals for a business site should consider what visitors want and expect to see most. Coming across satisfying content will make individuals browse the website longer and potentially take other actions that help the business, such as calling it to get further details about something mentioned on social channels.
Understanding when site and social media traffic rises also helps people gain more traction. Those with smartphones collectively spend 217 billion hours on social media. However, various factors — including their work schedules, amount of free time and reasons for using these channels — can affect the times of day they visit. Investigating site-specific metrics to see how traffic levels fluctuate is a practical way to make posts more effective.
2. Publish Posts That Reflect Business Values
Thanks to the abundance of physical and online-only businesses, people have no shortage of places to shop. Many specifically choose companies that uphold characteristics they want to support and see more prominently in the wider world. That’s why emphasizing certain aspects across social media and site content is a wise way to gain new customers and retain existing ones.
About 89% of people who find businesses that align with their values prefer and are likelier to show loyalty to them. It could be a women-owned operation, one with a program to help people with disabilities gain meaningful and fairly paid work experience, or a sustainably run entity. These attributes could increase social signal success and catch people’s attention in other ways.
3. Encourage People to Specify What Resonated
Social signal boosts can come as easily as clicking a button to like or share something. However, that can sometimes cause people to interact with content less thoughtfully. That can become problematic if those within their social networks cannot clearly understand why they chose to share the material.
One study found people were more likely to share content after receiving explicit requests to write why they found it relevant or would help others they know. You should urge viewers to describe why they liked the post and think others would, too. That tactic can lead to more authentic engagement.
4. Refine the Social Strategy
Those associated with the business and its efforts to gain social signals should also clarify their top goals to solidify what they hope to achieve beyond improving SEO rankings. Will the content primarily discuss products and how to use them, provide fun facts about the company’s industry or announce newsworthy events? Some people are especially likely to use social media as a discovery tool.
Business representatives who want to appeal to them may focus on media and posts that draw them in and make them want to learn more. One study found that social platforms and YouTube are the primary ways 71% of consumers from Generation Z find new things. It also showed that 74% of them use social media at any time of the day. These takeaways reinforce the importance of including an understanding of generational norms when researching the audience.
Social Signals Support SEO and More
Even if social signals do not directly impact SEO rankings, they bring numerous other benefits that can improve site performance while boosting traffic. They can also enhance people’s perception that a business is an authoritative resource. Prioritizing them can pay off over the long term for companies of all sizes and types.
