Every local business should be active on social media if they wish to remain competitive. However, the impact that social media can have on local SEO is often underestimated – largely because the connection between the two isn’t overly clear.
To help clear things up a bit, we’re going to highlight just how your social media game can impact your local SEO and why it’s worth investing in!
Can Social Media Be Used To Improve Your Local SEO?
The short answer is yes. At least, indirectly.
The fact is, Google doesn’t technically include social media presence in its ‘ranking factors’, however, that’s not to say that a solid social media strategy cannot send certain signals that will ultimately impact your overall local SEO success. Allow us to elaborate…
Connect Your Socials And Your GMB
Quality local SEO is highly dependent on claiming and populating your Google My Business profile (e.g., primary/secondary categories, keyword-rich descriptions, NAP info, FAQs, and reviews etc.). But, what many business owners fail to do is connect their socials with their GMB profile.
Here’s a quick overview of how to do that:
- Add your website URL to your GMB profile (along with your other contact details).
- Cross-link all of your social media accounts (e.g., Adding your Instagram & Twitter to your Facebook page and so on).
- Link to all of your social profiles on your website (there are dozens of widgets that can be used to embed your socials on your site).
- Add the appropriate local Schema Markup info so that your GMB profile will display your social icons on your page.
- Submit your business and website to local directories.
If you do all of the above and you are meticulous and consistent with your linking, branding, and information, your GMB profile should eventually display social media icons, thus successfully connecting all of your social accounts.
How Linking Your Socials With Your GMB Can Indirectly Impact Your SEO
Again, while having all of these socials linked doesn’t directly impact your SEO, below are some examples of how it can indirectly improve your rankings:
- Increasing the overall visibility and authority of your brand.
- Adding even more avenues for traffic to end up on your website.
- Providing greater reach for all of the content you create, thus facilitating shares and redirects to your website.
While your socials are not recognized as ‘backlinks’ by Google as other authoritative websites are, social signals are classified as ‘recommendations’. If there is lots of engagement on your social media accounts (all of which are now linked to your website and GMB profile), they will essentially be indicative of being ‘useful’ and ‘relevant’ to local searchers.
Not only that but having a well-optimized Facebook page, for example, is another great way for you to secure positive reviews and feedback from your satisfied customers – many of which may often show up in Google searches.
Conclusion
So, in conclusion, yes, social media can indeed positively influence your local SEO. If you are a Melbourne-based business and you are feeling overwhelmed by the technical aspect of interlinking your socials and fooling around with things like ‘Schema Markup’, then it’s almost certainly worth outsourcing these time-consuming requirements to the experts; you’ll have no trouble finding a reputable SEO agency in Melbourne who can make light work of it for you.
Finally, as a small business owner, you should be active on social media and have a solid marketing strategy in place anyway – and treat the fact that it can positively impact your local SEO as an added bonus.
Read Also:
- 4 SEO Facts All Businesses Should Know
- Ingenious Link-Building Hacks That Work Like A Charm
- How To Craft Legal Website Content For Better SERP Rankings?
The post Can Social Media Help Me Improve My Melbourne-Based Business’s Local Seo? appeared first on Social Media Magazine.
