How to Build Your Social Signals

Back in the later part of 2010, Matt Cutts of Google’s web spam team finally confirmed that signals from social sites were already part of  Google page ranking factors. While their impact on search engine optimization is not yet significant today, they can already boost the search engine visibility of your site. Aside from that, they can add more traffic and give your contents higher page views.

Matt Cutts, however, mentioned that the search engine landscape may change over time and in ten year there is a possibility that social signals will be a major SEO factor. But as for now, backlinks still rule as one of the major factor in search engine optimization. Well, that was three years ago and today the 10 year projection is fast approaching.

In fact, it will not take 10 years for social factors to be a dominant ranking signal. Today, majority of the successful companies are already partially or fully integrating social media. Only a quarter of them are not integrating social media in their SEO activities.

According to a survey by Ascend2, 16% of the very successful companies have done extensive integration, while 60% did limited integration of social media for SEO.  The remaining 24% minority did not integrate social media at all. So, if you want to belong to the successful companies then you should start building your signals today so that by the time they become a major contributory factor you have already built strong signals enough to secure better position in the SERPs.

Just like search engine optimization that has two major aspects, the onpage SEO and the offpage SEO, there are also two main elements of social signals – the onsite component and the offsite element. So here are some quick tips on how to build onsite and offsite social signs.

Onsite Factor

Create Social Widgets

You can start first by making your website social media friendly. While people can share your post in Facebook even if there is no Facebook share button anywhere in your blog, you can boost your social media campaign by placing a social widget that includes the buttons of different social networks like Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and Twitter, among others. Inserting the widget will shorten the social sharing process down to only one button-click, thereby making it easier for the readers to share and/or like your post.

Add Images and Videos

It’s hard to pin web contents without photos, unless you havesoftware that lets you do this. So if you want your posts to be shared in Pinterest then insert images in your blog posts as part of your web content marketing strategy. This will not only let your content shareable in Pinterestbut this will also enhance the share-worthiness of your contents to Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, and in other networks.

The same also holds true to Videos. Many videos ranked well in Google, and some of them are videos inserted in blogs, thereby capturing organic targeted website visitors from the search engines. You can also socially engage in YouTube and get YouTube followers to your YouTube Channel.  By doing this, you can redirect your fans to your main website if they want access to more videos with full details and explanations.

Create High Quality Contents Worthy of Sharing

One of the key drivers of social activities is good content. Make your web contents truly engaging by sharing awe-inspiring facts and attention-grabbing breaking news that really motivate readers to add comments, to like them, to pin the images, and to share your posts to their friends. Focus on the needs of your audience and provide something valuable that exceeds their expectations.

Offsite Factor

Create a Facebook Page

The other element of social signal is the offsite factor. There are numerous methods of building your offsite signals, and one of them is to create a Facebook page. According to a Mashable report about Facebook business page, about 50% of the customers value the Facebook page of a brand more than the brand’s website. That is why it is becoming imperative today to have a business page in Facebook. This can also serve as one of your main social platforms for engaging with your customers.

Improve Your Twitter Profile and Tweet Regularly

Twitter is a formidable force in social media. Many people run to Twitter to get updates and news. So if you want to say something interesting to your prospects then tweet your breaking news. You can only do this if you have a Twitter account So, create one today if you none yet.

Open a Pinterest Account and Pin Your Favorites

The popularity of Pinterest continues to rise because of the value of sharing images with others. Therefore, hop in with the pack and start sharing photos that are somewhat relevant to your business.

Should You Buy Social Signals

There are a lot of buzz about buying social signals. Some webmasters are buying them and reported good results from their search engine optimization. Should you follow them, as well? The answer is, of course, obvious from Google’s point of view, and that is to stay away from doing this because of its non-organic nature. However, if this is done right then this can help you obtain the needed signals from social media that can help propel your site closer to the top of the SERPs.

While Google discourages paying for your social signal, large firms and popular companies are doing it under the radar of the major search engines. What sets them apart from the rest is that they are using the services of trusted firms that provide signals from genuine social accounts, unlike the services provided for by inept providers that give social sign from fake accounts.

So stay away from using the poor services of bad companies because the signals that you will get are not only redundant but also risky to SEO. Either way, observe extra precaution when deciding to use this method to boost your social media signals.

Takeaway Note

The dawn of social media is here, and it is taking the internet by storm. Millions of people across the globe log-on to the internet just to socialize with others. Sooner, socially-active people will comprise the bulk of net users. By that time, signals from social networks will also become a significant ranking factor. Therefore, prepare your website for the future of SEO by creating social signals today.