Unlike previous years, the lines between search engine optimization (SEO) and social media are starting to blur. Google and Bing are using social signals in their ranking algorithms more than ever before. Additionally, they not only monitor what is happening outside the website, but also what is happening on the website.
For now, a good SEO strategy is incomplete without a social strategy, and a good social media strategy can help your SEO campaigns. To maximize your online marketing efforts, here are the eight best strategies you should employ:
1. On-site SEO audit
An on-site SEO audit is the foundation of your SEO campaign. Conducting this audit will help you answer some questions, such as: Have your titles and tags been optimized? What is the proportion of keywords? Are certain web pages related to certain keywords? Do you have a website in html and xml formats? Maps, can Google crawl them? How fast does the page load? Wait.
Onsite SEO is also relatively cheap and is a one-time event, generally not required more than once a year.
2. Register your brand name on major social channels
If you’re reading this article and you don’t already have a Facebook page and Twitter account, you should get your own page on both platforms immediately. Simply having its own pages within these channels will improve your brand’s search engine rankings as it is proven to be credible and authoritative to search engines.
But don't just limit yourself to Facebook and Twitter. Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest are not only growing in importance in search engine algorithms, but also in terms of audience reach.
3. Publish content through your social channels
Whether it’s publishing a new blog post, syndicating content across social channels, or even just a simple “Good morning!” you need to keep creating and publishing content. Not only will this help build trust and loyalty to your brand, but it will also show search engines that you really care. This is an appropriate hint as to your own credibility.
4. Display social media connect buttons on every page of your website
Making it easy for website visitors to stay connected with your brand helps the brand in several ways: First, it maximizes the value of each website visitor. If they’re not ready to buy your product but they’ve been interested in it, at least they’ll follow you on Twitter. This allows you to stay in touch with them much more effectively than visitors who do nothing before leaving the site.
This is also very helpful for search engine optimization. Displaying these buttons on your website shows that you care about your social media platform and also demonstrates your brand’s credibility.
5. Allow visitors to easily share your content through social media sharing buttons
Making it easy for visitors to share your content by providing social sharing buttons is one of the easiest and most effective ways to outsource syndicated content in a completely organic way.
6. Build your email list
With some of the free email management solutions out there, like MailChimp, there’s really no reason not to build your email list. The first step to getting value from your website visitors is to capture their contact information, and nothing is more valuable than an email address. Staying connected with your website visitors through email marketing campaigns can bring significant benefits, even if the results aren't immediately apparent.
7. Jump on the Pinterest wave
If you've at least heard of the name, and you haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet, you should do so now. Pinterest is a photo social network. Jumping on this bandwagon doesn’t just mean signing up for a Pinterest account, it also means you need to provide image-based content so that hordes of pinners can pin them.
8. Publish lots of good content on your blog
The more content a website has, the more likely it will be returned as a search result, thus generating more (free) search traffic. Of course, in addition to being good for SEO, publishing this content can also help establish a reliable and authoritative brand image in the niche market. Don’t forget to allow readers to comment and reply.