Social Media & SEO

[AAttias]

I just wanted to see what your opinions were on this. Does being active on social media help with your SEO efforts. I'm not talking about having a link to your website on your Facebook page, but in general commenting on news stories and having conversations. Would Google prefer you over a competitor if you were more active on social media?

[CMC-SD]

We don't know about the direct effects of social media participation on rankings. However, we do know about the indirect effects. White-hat link building is relationship building. Build relationships with influencers in your niche, get them to notice your stuff, and they might share your stuff to their followers or link to it on their websites. Their followers might also link to it on their websites. I know that I often blog about something I found on Twitter or Facebook.

Plus, so many searches are personalized now, showcasing results from the searcher's network. If you're in their network, your content is more likely to show up.

Social media can also be a simple form of reputation management. If you have active accounts on the major social networks, it's likely that they will appear on page 1 when someone searches your brand, possibly pushing down anything negative.