Though social signals are gaining importance for search rankings, it is obvious that you cannot be present on all social networks. First of all, such a strategy would divide your focus and resources and result in minimal return on investment.
The basic rule in marketing is that 80% of sales come from 20% of your customers and this rule applies in this context too.
So you have to focus on a handful of social media sites (the 20%) that will have maximum impact (80%) on your SEO, boost search rankings, drive more traffic and thus benefit your business.
The Top Social Media Sites for SEO
While there are several niche social media websites, the top social media platforms that influence SEO include Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, as shown by this experiment by Tasty Placements. LinkedIn is crucial too. According to this Mashable article, Pinterest is the #3 social network behind Facebook and Twitter. Hence you cannot ignore Pinterest for SEO, provided your audience demographics match that of Pinterest.
This post aims to give you a quick glance-through of the features of the above most popular social media sites, so that you can decide which is the best social network for your business.
Facebook
Facebook has the largest number of users across the widest demographic profile. It presents the best opportunity for user engagement as you can connect with your customers through pictures, video and text, enter into conversations and in general strengthen your relationship with them.
And as per an analysis conducted by SearchMetrics, Facebook shares had the highest correlation with high search ranking.
Twitter
With tweets restricted to just 140 characters, you cannot post elaborate texts as in Facebook. But this is the opportunity to post concise, sharp tweets that help establish yourself in your professional community and connect with influencers in you niche. Twitter enables you to provide upto the minute information on your business and likewise keep abreast of the latest happenings in the industry. Here are some tips to use Twitter to boost your rankings.
Google+
Launched by Google, Google+ is very similar to Facebook. However, the obvious connection with Google is creating suspicion that Google+ results are favored over other social media sites in the Google search results. This may or may not be so. But Google+ is definitely a site not to ignore, as it is poised to play an even greater role in search in the future.
Pinterest
With a demographic profile that leans towards women (almost 68%), Pinterest is ideal for women centric businesses. This social platform is best suited for sharing images, infographics, and pictures. Several interior design, flower arrangement, cookery and related niches have used Pinterest with great benefits for SEO.
LinkedIn
Viewed as a ‘professional’ social networking site, LinkedIn has a ‘question and answer’ function that you can utilize to establish your expertise in your field. This contributes to your website authority, which in turn is a positive SEO factor.
Which social media sites are you present on?
This post has been written by top SEO consultant in Canada Yasir Khan. Yasir is the founder of post Penguin SEO company Quantum SEO Labs.
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