Does Social Engagement help drive SEO?

In the past, brands could optimize their website for search engines by focusing on keywords, links, H1 and title tags. But today, there is an ever increasing amount of activity taking place in the social sphere. Given the new digital landscape, what should brands do to maintain their SEO?

First, note that both Google and Bing have announced that they factor social signals into their search algorithms. Links used to be the most significant “referral” metric; now, likes, shares and tweets are used to prove relevance. In the future, it may be possible for websites to rise to the top of search results just through the strength of their social currency.

Second, social search and web search will not remain parallel streams but help inform each other’s results. You can already see these factors in play if you are signed into Google while searching. Personal results show pages, photos and Google+ posts from your friends.

As a result, brands should partner with experts to ensure that consumers have every opportunity to socialize brand content, including tweets, likes, and YouTube views. This strategy requires not just gaining more followers on one particular platform, but offering a variety of content in different social channels.