Alexis Kestler
With 4.65 billion social media users and growing, mastering these platforms is imperative for growth, but surprisingly difficult to get right.
As a web analyst and social media expert for 13 years, I‘ve distilled down the most critical ways brands can substantially amplify reach and engagement with content by improving social signals.
While opinions differ on just how significantly social impacts search rankings, even conservative estimates recognize its influence. According to Moz, social signals explain up to 10% of Google‘s algorithm. However, Search Engine Journal argues that influence could be as high as 30%.
Regardless of the exact correlation, there is near universal agreement that social signals help indicate quality, authority and relevance to search engines. This guide will explore the mechanics of transforming content into viral growth across networks.
Leveraging Likes, Shares and Comments
Likes, comments, clicks and all forms of engagement serve as ballots of approval, signaling to platforms:
- This content resonates with audiences
- People find it useful, entertaining or otherwise worth interacting with
- Other users are likely to appreciate this content too
Networks amplify content with stronger signals by:
- Showing it higher and more frequently in feeds to new viewers
- Recommending it via internal suggestion algorithms like "Related Posts"
- Highlighting it as trending or popular content
Each view and subsequent interaction compounds growth further through viral sharing. A 2018 study by Buzzsumo found Facebook posts receive over 90% of total engagement within the first 3 days. Capitalizing early leads to exponential returns.
I‘ll share tactics to facilitate this viral effect through genuine social signals that ultimately enhance discovery and SEO authority as well.
Defining Social Signals
Social signals encompass the myriad of engagement metrics quantifying popularity on social platforms and websites, including:
Metric / Definition
Likes / Endorsements of content
Shares / Reposts to extended networks
Clicks / Traffic referred through links/posts
Mentions / Tags or references
Comments / Replies and discussions
Followers / Subscribers staying updated
Social Signals as a Ranking Factor
The correlation between social media activity and search engine results page (SERP) rankings has strengthened over the past decade.
While social signals do not directly dictate Relevance or Authority scores, Google and Bing infer quality and demand based on how much attention content attracts across the social web.
This graph highlights the growing influence of social media on search visibility:
Platforms incentivize engagement in the form of notifications, suggested posts, and trending hashtags. I‘ll explore how to ethically leverage these mechanics to augment social signals.
8 Optimization Strategies
Here are 8 groundbreaking ways to expand social reach and amplify engagement:
1. Link Website and Social Profiles
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