Gone are the days when traditional SEO tactics, like keyword stuffing and link building, ruled the digital space. Now, it’s all about mastering the art of capturing attention on social media platforms, where cat videos and viral challenges can make or break your online presence.
But that’s not all. Did you know that AI is taking over the internet? Now that robots are answering users’ burning questions, we need to cover all of our bases – and that means prioritizing social media SEO.
So, whether you’re a self-proclaimed influencer or a small business owner, it’s important to understand why social media SEO is the hottest thing since sliced bread. In this article, we’re exploring the ins and outs of social media SEO, why it’s so important in 2023, and how to optimize your social media channels to perform.
Quick Takeaways
- With AI taking a bigger role in search and the need to educate AI language models, prioritizing social media SEO is more important than ever
- Sharing high-quality content on social media has a direct impact on factors that influence search rankings
- When your audience reads and shares your content, it increases your visibility, improves traffic, and generates backlinks, sending positive signals to search engines
- Optimize your profile with keywords, include hashtags, use alt-text, feature relevant keywords descriptions, and leverage location features boost social media SEO
Social media SEO is key to navigating the digital landscape and reaping the rewards of increased visibility and organic traffic.
What Exactly Is Social Media SEO?
It’s no secret that social media is one of the best places to reach your target audience. But how can marketers effectively find and communicate with their audience members via content? The answer: social media SEO.
Image Source: Gather Content
Social media SEO is all about optimizing your social media profiles and content to increase your visibility and drive organic traffic.
Simple, right? Not necessarily! With social media’s ever-changing algorithms and elusive engagement metrics, perfecting your social media SEO strategy can feel like a game of cat and mouse.
But, once you nail down a successful strategy, you’ll see:
- Increased in website traffic
- Enhanced online presence
- Better brand reputation
- More engagement
- Meaningful relationships with your audience
So, while the tangible benefits of social media SEO can take a bit of effort to achieve, all your hard work will pay off in the long run. Not to mention, you don’t really have a choice anymore. Here’s why:
Why Social Media SEO Is More Important Than Ever
AI is taking over the world. Just kidding, it’s not – but it is changing search as we know it. Instead of creating content that educates just our audiences and SERPs, now we need to educate AI language models, too.
The most effective way to do this is by building something called “content mass”. By building your brand’s content mass with a dense arsenal of ungated web content, AI bots will know your brand and recommend you to users.
Since 90% of Americans use social media, we recommend you take advantage of social media SEO to keep your brand in front of its audience. Fine-tune your content marketing strategy and create content that performs well on every marketing channel to stay relevant.
How Social Media Supports SEO
Your brand’s social media has a direct impact on the factors that influence search rankings, making it an important player in driving quality traffic to your website.
When you publish high-quality content that resonates with your target audience, they become advocates for your brand. And naturally, your audience reads and shares your articles with their friends and followers.
The content you share on social media can take various forms, as long as it captivates your readers. Some of our favorite examples of traffic and social share-driving content are:
- Blog posts
- Videos
- Infographics
- Podcasts
Although, if you don’t distribute your high-quality content effectively, your content won’t have the impact you need it to.
That’s where social media comes in. When you share your posts, your audience amplifies your content by further sharing it, ultimately:
- Increases your visibility
- Improving traffic
- Generating backlinks
These social signals let Google know that your site’s content is top notch. In turn, these signals can indirectly enhance your search rankings.
Image Source: Life Marketing
Moral of the story: sharing content on social media is essential to regularly capturing your audience’s attention, boosting social shares, and supporting SEO.
Social Media SEO Tips For Every Channel
Here’s the inside scoop on making your presence known in the world of social media SEO.
- Optimize your profile with keywords. Sprinkle keywords into your name, handle, bio, and location (if relevant), too.
- Feature keywords and hashtags into your captions. No need to hide them in the comments anymore. Including keywords and hashtags in your captions will boost your content’s visibility on search pages.
- Include alt-text! Not only does alt-text make your visual content more accessible, but it also helps Instagram understand exactly what your content is all about. This means your posts can show up when people search for relevant topics. Double win!
- Don’t forget subtitles. While Instagram has auto-generated captions for accessibility, adding subtitles means your target keyword gets some onscreen spotlight.
- Tag your location. By tagging your location, your content can be featured on Instagram Maps, which serves as a local business search.
Image Source: Twitter
YouTube
- Get savvy with your video file name. Use your primary keyword phrase as the file name. For instance, let’s say your keyword is “DIY potholder,” you can name your video file “DIY-potholder.mov”
- Craft a captivating title. Incorporate your primary keyword phrase into the title, but make it a more descriptive version that people are likely to type into the YouTube search bar. For example, “How to Crochet a DIY Potholder.” This way, your title aligns with search intent.
- Description domination with keywords. Utilize keywords in the video description, especially within the first two lines that are visible without clicking the “more” option. Make sure to include your primary keyword and, if possible, sprinkle in a secondary keyword or two, without going overboard and sounding like a keyword stuffing enthusiast.
- Speak it out loud and caption it. Say your keywords in the video itself, making sure they are spoken at some point. Additionally, turn on captions in YouTube Studio. This way, your keywords appear both audibly and visually, optimizing accessibility and SEO.
- Embrace the power of how-to videos. If you want to attract search-driven views, focus on creating how-to videos. These types of videos tend to perform exceptionally well in search results. Other video types typically gain more views from the home page, suggested videos, or playlists.
- Tags? Not a big deal. According to YouTube, tags don’t hold significant weight in search rankings. They are primarily used to address common misspellings or variations, such as “DIY” vs. “DYI.” So, don’t stress too much about tags.
TikTok
- Level up your profile with keywords. Add relevant keywords to your TikTok user profile to boost the SEO power of your entire account.
- Double the impact with your main keyword. Make your TikTok a sensation by not only including keywords in your video’s in-text overlay, but also by saying it out loud. This means your keyword gets a triple dose of exposure—it’s included in the in-text overlay, spoken in the video, and captured in the automatically generated closed captions.
- Feature keywords and hashtags in your video description. Be sure to include relevant keywords and hashtags in your video’s description (or caption). Focus more on relevant keywords for improved TikTok SEO to help your content get discovered.
Video Source: Hootsuite Labs
- Use keywords on your Facebook page. Incorporate your main keyword into your Page title and vanity URL, About section, and description.
- Feature your business address. If it’s relevant to your business, add your address to your profile. This inclusion enables your Page to be included in local search results, boosting its visibility among local audiences.
- Expand with location pages. If you have multiple physical locations, create dedicated location pages for each one. This strategy increases the chances of all your locations appearing in local search results, maximizing your reach.
- Post with keywords. When crafting posts and photo captions, weave in relevant keywords naturally. By using language that flows, you can include the most important keyword in each post, enhancing its SEO impact.
- Don’t forget alt-text! Include specific and descriptive alt-text for all of your images. This helps Facebook understand the content of your posts, improving their relevance and visibility.
- Unleash the power of keywords. Incorporate your main keyword in your Twitter name, handle, and bio. This strategic placement ensures that your profile aligns with relevant searches and grabs the attention of your target audience.
- Craft tweets that pack a punch. Make the most of Twitter’s limited character count by including relevant keywords and hashtags in your tweets. Use them wisely and organically to maintain value and readability for your readers.
- Alt-text for extra SEO. When sharing images in your tweets, go the extra mile and alt-text that includes your relevant keywords (if applicable to the image). This alt-text not only enhances accessibility for visually impaired users, but also signals to search engines the content of your image.
Boost Your SEO Today
Social media SEO is a powerful tool for enhancing your online presence, driving organic traffic, and building meaningful relationships with your audience. While navigating social media’s algorithms and engagement metrics can be a challenge, the benefits of a successful social media SEO strategy are well worth your effort!
Ready to take your content’s performance to the next level? Start creating content that’s guaranteed to satisfy your target audience and SERPs. Get started today by checking out our weekly blog content service, or schedule a free consultation now to learn more!
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