It’s no secret that Google and other search engines use social signals to determine how you should be ranked in the search engine results pages. Building your business’ social media profiles, managing them correctly and uploading quality content to them linking back to your site will add massive value in the long run.
AuthorRank
Recently, Google has mentioned the importance of building yourself or your business as a trusted and respected thought leader within your online community. Google can identify just how effective your input is within your community and they are now assigning a value to this in the hopes of making the search results more relevant to other users.
Using social media for link building
Brand links should account for 80% or more of your website’s link profile. A “brand link” is considered a link that contains your brand’s name or website address in the anchor text of the link. Social media links help increase the amount of brand links and therefore help keep your link profile looking natural.
Link your Google+ account with your website
By linking your Google+ account with your website, you are allowing Google to use your Google+ profile within the search engine results pages. As a result, your website will be ranked better. It will also allow your listing in the results page to stand out from the rest as it will contain an image and a link to your Google+ profile.
How social signals affect your rankings
SEOMoz believes that the following social factors have a direct influence on your ranking:
- Number of people that like your brand on Facebook
- Number of Facebook shares
- Number of Twitter followers
- Number of tweets mentioning your brand name or including a link to your website
- Number of people that “have you in their circles” (Google+)
Whether your business is just starting out or you’ve had an online presence for many years, following the above mentioned guidelines will set you up for success in the long run. Gone are the days of traditional, spammy link building. The future of your online business belongs to how authoritative you are. Good luck!
