Do facebook likes have a direct impact on SERPS?

[SamCUK]

If a post on my site receives a lot of facebook 'likes' does that have a direct impact on the rankings for that post? I notice SEO Moz track them so I guess they must be pretty significant. Also if someone visits my facebook page and 'likes' for example a link to an article on my site does that have an impact on SERPS? I can see that 'liking' something is a vote of confidence or a trust signal that google could use but I would imagine that if someone actually shares my content on their facebook page that would be much more valuable than a 'like'?

If facebook is important to SEO then is it worth setting up facebook ads to get my facebook page in front of an audience so that I can build 'likes'?

[Guest]

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[SEO5Team]

Hi Samuel,

Jason wrote an excellent article covering this topic on SEOMOZ. Even though your facebook likes might not directly influence your rankings, they can definitely impact it through a lower bounce rate and a higher average time on site metrics. There is also the advantage of getting backlinks for content that you share through your social profiles.The link to the full article is provided below:

Guide to Social Signals

Cheers,

SEO5

[Francisco_Meza]

Hi Charles, I have to disagree if the phrase "direct impact" means higher rankings.

Here's why.... I buy Facebook Likes through Facebook ads. Matt Cutts wouldn't allow people to "buy" their way to #1 based off social signals. Same thing with Tweets.

However, if you mean "direct impact" as being getting more referral traffic to a site, then yes it can help pushing people from Facebook to a site.