How does social media impact search engine rankings? Does social factor into SEO strategy? What the heck are “social signals?” There are seemingly endless questions surrounding the impact of social on search and we’ll tackle them in this session by separating fact from fiction and by detailing the relationship between the two.

1. November 4, 2016
THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL ON SEARCH

2. Why does this matter?
Google gives us mixed information and there are a ton of
confusing opinions floating around about how social
impacts search.
@coreydmorris

3. About @coreydmorris
¨ Director of Digital Strategy for
ER Marketing
¨ Board Member for SEMPO global
¨ Organizer of SEMPO Cities KC
¨ Professional Advisory Council
member for NW Missouri State
¨ Past co-host of Tech Circuit
on KMBZ
@coreydmorris

4. About @ermarketing
¨ We help clients with:
¤ Digital strategy
¤ Paid search marketing
¤ Search engine optimization
¤ Content marketing & promotion
¨ One of most award winning B2B
agencies in region
@coreydmorris

5. About @you
¨ Agencies?
¨ Brand/in-house marketers?
¨ Non-profits?
¨ Students?
¨ Other roles?
@coreydmorris

6. Digital Marketing Relationships
@coreydmorris

7. Silos

8. Silos

9. @coreydmorris

10. SEO Overview
@coreydmorris

11. Indexing & Technical
¨ Robots & Sitemaps
¨ Crawling & Indexing
@coreydmorris

12. On-Page
¨ Consistency across
all available elements
¨ Content matches
keyword topical focus
¨ Technical aspects
@coreydmorris

13. Off-Page
¨ Inbound links
¨ Brand mentions
¨ Social media
@coreydmorris

14. Social Influences on SEO
@coreydmorris

15. 2011 Ranking Factors
2011

16. 2015 Ranking Factors
2015

17. What Google Says…
We do use Facebook and Twitter links in
ranking as we always have in our web
search rankings.
–Matt Cutts, 2010

18. What Bing Says
What Bing Says…

19. What SEOs Think
What SEOs Say…

21. What We Know
¨ No social signals in Google’s algorithm as recently
as 2014 (backtracking on 2010 statement)
¨ Google indexes Tweets and some social content to
understanding context and importance
¨ Bing considers some social signals
¨ Correlation data tells us social matters
@coreydmorris

22. Correlation vs. Causation
Understand that regardless of the data and opinions
social matters, then get to work!
@coreydmorris

23. Application
@coreydmorris

24. “Build a Strong Brand”
¨ Naturally attracts links,
mentions, social
following, etc.
¨ Brand signals are a
part of the algorithm
@coreydmorris

25. Keyword Selection & Use
¨ Content is a unifier between search and social
¨ A lot of social could (and should) be done without
linking back to our own sites
¤ Be consistent in keyword and topical focus
@coreydmorris

28. Website Content
¨ Connect search &
social elements
¨ Social meta tags
(the OGs)
¨ Topical relevance
& consistency
@coreydmorris

29. Social Sharing on Website
¨ Within reason, add website (brand)
like/follow/share buttons
¨ Add share buttons for specific content (posts,
images, etc.)
¨ Different types of votes for website, content, and
level of impact
¨ What we know here is based on how G+ works
@coreydmorris

31. Social Citations to Website
¨ Three major data aggregators
¨ Hundreds of directories
¨ Dozens of major social review websites
¨ Accurate NAP data and website citation link are
critical factors
@coreydmorris

32. Social Engagement
¨ Volume: number of engagements
¨ Quality: quantitative factor of those that engage
¨ Links: where the social content drives a user
(and a search engine robot) and the many places
the link can be shown based on retweets, shares,
and other engagement
@coreydmorris

33. Social Link Building
¨ Social has been billed as the new link building and link
building equates to authority in SEO
¨ Things that matter in link building that apply to social
media:
¤ Diversity: links on multiple profiles and sources through
others originating posts/tweets or sharing/retweeting
¤ Quality: level of quality or influence of the external
originator or sharer
@coreydmorris

34. Social Profile Trust
¨ High quality and influencer profiles are the equivalent
to a high quality site in SEO
¨ Things that matter for building SEO trust that apply to
social media:
¤ Quality: content engagement for the profile/page
¤ Quantity: audience size and follower base for profile/page
¤ History: how long the profile/page has existed and
been active
@coreydmorris

35. SERP Presence
¨ Social visibility directly in search results
¨ Direct social media exposure without SEO and
without relying heavily on connecting SEO and
social with your website
¨ Short-term, but can be a big win
@coreydmorris

37. Key Takeaways
@coreydmorris

38. Blow up the siloed thinking

39. Focus on What Matters
@coreydmorris

40. Do all the good stuff
¨ Build a strong brand
¨ Select keywords and use them
¨ Work on your website content
¨ Add social sharing to your website
¨ Build social citations
¨ Get social engagement
¨ Social link building
¨ Social profile trust
¨ Other SERP opportunities
@coreydmorris

41. Resources
¨ Further Reading:
n http://marketingland.com/social-brand-mentions-find-fully-capitalize-marketing-139876
n http://searchengineland.com/guide/seo/social-media-ranking-search-results
n http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2016/07/seo-strategies-social-media/
n http://memeburn.com/2016/01/10-things-you-have-to-know-about-seo-social-media-in-2016/
n http://searchengineland.com/use-social-media-create-seo-success-250947
n https://www.searchenginejournal.com/social-signals-affect-seo/135956/
n https://www.searchenginejournal.com/real-reasons-social-media-affects-companys-seo/129900/
n https://raventools.com/blog/social-media-impact-seo/
n http://searchengineland.com/guide/seo/social-media-ranking-search-results
n http://www.seomark.co.uk/social-seo/
n https://www.semrush.com/blog/8-ways-social-media-can-impact-your-seo/
n http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/social-signals-and-seo
n https://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/how-does-social-media-affect-seo/
n https://moz.com/search-ranking-factors
n https://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/search-marketing/social-and-seo-can-social-media-performance-impact-ranking/
n https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-social-media-affects-seo/
n https://www.clickz.com/7-legitimate-ways-that-social-media-impacts-seo/31746/
n https://blog.kissmetrics.com/social-media-and-seo/
n https://www.stonetemple.com/does-facebook-activity-impact-seo/
n https://www.stonetemple.com/googles-matt-cutts-understanding-social-identity-on-the-web-is-hard/
n http://www.slideshare.net/Conductormarketing/using-social-signals-to-boost-your-search-rankings
@coreydmorris

42. Resources
Visit:
http://www.ermarketing.net/smckc
to download this presentation and for other SEO resources
https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreymorris
@coreydmorris

43. Thank You
Image credits:
Andy Crestondina - B2B Forum
http://searchengineland.com/seotable/
http://searchengineland.com/introducing-the-periodic-table-of-seo-ranking-factors-77181
http://searchengineland.com/figz/wp-content/seloads/2011/08/matt-cutts-panda-smx-
1314101535.jpeg
http://searchengineland.com/figz/wp-content/seloads/2014/10/duane-forrester-bing.jpg
http://www.takeflyte.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/chris-blog-3.png
http://matthewforzan.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/google-bot-logo-with-bot.jpg
https://assets1.getsocial.io/assets/home/product/product-bars-
13fb95e9c34e29cafec576918c11cd37f7fb96f10a601632ff0e437a71233fbb.png
https://d2v4zi8pl64nxt.cloudfront.net/advanced-citation-audit-clean-up-achieve-consistent-
data-higher-rankings/53bb764fdc2e53.13407302.jpg
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/correlation.png
@coreydmorris