The Growing Importance Of Social Media In SEO Efforts

There were plenty of significant changes in the SEO world in recent times. For example, with the release of Google Penguin algorithm in the first quarter of 2011, websites that employed link schemes, like purchasing or selling links, disproportionate link exchanges, linking to spammers or not related sites in order to manipulate PageRank, are already penalized.

Another noteworthy change in recent years is that websites have to be developed mainly for users, rather than search engines, which was the norm two years ago. Today, search engines put more importance to consumer experience. For blogs and sites to rank higher, their owners need to identify techniques to encourage their readers to stay for a longer time on the website and reduce bounce rates.

Publishing good quality content is also further emphasized in the last couple of years. The Panda algorithm launched by Google in 2011 decreased the rankings of blogs and sites that had poor content. Blog owners have to make sure that content they release are natural sounding; does not have spelling, stylistic, and factual blunders; thorough; useful and engaging.

Years ago, website content was predominantly text-based. These days, content take a variety of forms, and some of the popular types include videos, infographics, podcasts, and powerpoint presentations. Creation of exceptionally creative and shareable content also became crucial for sites which want to get better rankings on the search results page.

One of the most important changes in the SEO world is the rising significance of social media in a websites search engine ranking. Historically, links were regarded as more significant than social signals. But these days, social signals are already regarded as an equally important ranking factor, and a lot of industry professionals are convinced that it will become even more important in the near future. The biggest impact of social media is that it helps websites generate new inbound links. It does this by raising brand awareness and by extension the visibility of the companys blog or website online. Interestingly, websites which have a robust social media presence have decreased bounce rates, which in turn, helps them attain more favorable rankings on the SERP.

Reflecting the rising importance of social signals, many online vendors offer new ways to quickly build your social media presence. For example, they can help you increase Google Plus votes, for a set fee, by using bots or hiring people to follow youand share your content. While useful, artificial social signals, when used too much, are frowned upon by search engines. The best way to obtain social signals is by organic means. This involves creating integrations between your social media channels to your corporate site or blog. This can be achieved by inviting visitors of your website to join your social channels by adding connect buttons on your blog or site, or by adding share buttons on your content. To know more about SEO and importance of social media, visit this link.