Social signals—likes, shares, comments, and other interactions on social media—are an important part of your online presence. They show how people respond to your content on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok. But do social signals affect search engine optimization (SEO)?
For years, Google has said “no”. At least not directly. However, there may be more to this story than we’ve been led to believe. They can indirectly affect search rankings by driving traffic to your site, improving user engagement, boosting your brand’s visibility, and more.
In this article, we’ll examine how social signals work with SEO and discuss the best ways to use them.
What Are Social Signals & How Do They Help SEO?
Social signals are people’s interactions with your content on social media platforms. You use these engagement metrics to gauge how well your content is doing. Ideally, you want people to interact with your content and not have it pass them by as they scroll. What could this look like?
- Likes and reactions. Likes have been a staple of most social media platforms from the beginning. They show approval or interest.
- Shares and retweets. When social media users share your post with their followers, your content reaches a broader audience. This can lead to more traffic and potentially more backlinks. This is what “going viral” is all about.
- Comments. The way social algorithms work is different from the way search engine algorithms work. Conversations about your content on social platforms increase visibility and often bring more traffic to your site.
- Clicks. If your posts include links to your website, then those links can drive direct traffic. This helps search engine optimization indirectly by boosting user engagement metrics.
While most of these actions don’t directly improve your rankings, they play a part in users finding and interacting with your website. A well-crafted post that gets widely shared can bring thousands of new visitors to your site. If all of those people stay and engage with your content, this shows Google that your content is worth showing to more people.
How beneficial all of this is going to depend on the platform:
- Google has a very limited visibility of Instagram. While they can index profiles (meaning getting them into the search results), there’s a limited ability to index posts. Granted, some posts get indexed, but it’s usually if the post is linked from another website.
- Facebook gets a lot more visibility as far as public posts are concerned. If you have a Facebook page for your business, the content is likely to get indexed and user interactions are likely to have a positive effect on your website.
- TikTok, while involved in controversy, is also indexable by Google. TikTok videos can be optimized for search and can be beneficial for SEO in return.
- There was a brief window when LinkedIn was getting seriously boosted, but due to many users and businesses abusing it, this is no longer the case. Having your content on LinkedIn is still valuable, but it no longer brings the results it used to.
- Reddit has seen a serious boost from Google in recent months, likely thanks to a deal they struck. Google is going to use Reddit to train their AI models so it makes sense that they’d push the platform to generate more traffic and attract more users.
- X (formerly known as Twitter) is another social media platform that doesn’t shy away from controversy. Ever since the platform was purchased by Elon Musk, there have been major changes. Among the chief concerns for SEO and Google are the limitations introduced to automatic data scraping. However, public posts on X still get indexed (especially on verified accounts) so they can still benefit SEO.
As you can see, there’s a lot of variation between social media sites. It’s hard for Google to use social signals as direct ranking factors because social media data changes all the time and it’s not always accessible. However, the way these signals influence user behavior and engagement makes them beneficial for SEO.
How Social Signals Indirectly Affect SEO
Indirect benefits don’t sound all that useful, so do they even matter? Why, yes, they do. While they’re no replacement for the direct benefits of SEO work, social signals can still serve a useful purpose in a well-rounded SEO strategy. Here’s how:
User Engagement Metrics
When people engage with your social media posts, they often visit your website if there’s a link to relevant content. There are a few important metrics Google then records and uses to figure out if your content resonates with users.
- Time on page. If visitors stay longer on your website, it shows search engines your content is valuable and engaging. Social media traffic can significantly improve this metric, especially if your posts lead to in-depth articles or multimedia content.
- Bounce rate. A user leaving your website having only interacted with one page is considered a “bounce.” A lower bounce rate is an indication that visitors find your website relevant and are exploring it further. Social media audiences tend to have higher intent if your post targets their interests well.
For example, you share an amazing graphic and link to a case study in your industry on LinkedIn. This can potentially bring hundreds of targeted visitors. If these visitors stay to read the case study and explore your other content, your engagement metrics will improve. This signals search engines that you have high-quality content, which can indirectly help your rankings.
Branded Search Volume
A good social media strategy can make your brand more visible and memorable. This leads to more branded searches (meaning people specifically searching for your brand rather than general searches). This is important because branded searches signal that people recognize and trust your brand. There’s no better way to show search engines your brand is an authority in your field than people literally searching for it.
The good news as far as SEO is concerned is that an increase in branded search volume often improves your rankings for non-branded keywords, too. For example, if you’re a small clothing brand that goes viral on TikTok, you might see a spike in Google searches for your name. Over time, this helps your website rank better for keywords related to your products.
Chrome Data Tracking
Google hasn’t officially confirmed it, but we’ve long suspected Chrome browser data is used to track user engagement. In May 2024, a major leak of Google documents gave us a look at how the company decides which websites show up in search results.
These papers showed that Google might use data from its Chrome browser, like how often people click on a site or interact with it, to judge how good or useful a website is. This means that if a lot of people visit your site from social media pages and spend time exploring it, it could help your site rank higher in search engine results pages.
High-Quality Content and Social Signals
Social media is great for getting more eyeballs on your content. But all the eyeballs in the world won’t mean a thing if the content itself is not good. If you want to boost your website authority through social signals, you need to make sure that your content is worth the read. However, if you do produce the type of content that users and algorithms consider to be high-quality, you’ll reap a ton of benefits.
Social Media and Backlinks
Social media links aren’t a direct ranking factor. However, content that performs well on social platforms often attracts backlinks from other websites. And those are a direct ranking factor in SEO. When your content goes viral, it’s likely to be referenced by blogs, news outlets, or industry websites.
For example, let’s say you’re a B2B company that does automation. You publish a case study demonstrating how automation increased the operational efficiency of one of your clients by 61 percent. Now, the case study is making the rounds on LinkedIn and gets picked up by several authoritative blogs in your niche. They write articles about your approach and link to your website. This is how you get some links from authoritative sources in your field. You can even get links from media sources this way.
Authority Signals from Influencers
When industry leaders or influencers share your content, it not only increases traffic but also builds your website’s credibility. Search engines take this as a sign of authority, which can positively affect rankings.
For example, a tech influencer sharing your blog post about the latest smartphone features might bring in a ton of new readers and boost your site’s reputation in the tech space.
Building Brand Visibility Through Social Signals
Social media marketing is one of the best ways to build brand awareness. As your brand becomes more recognizable, more people will search for it on Google, which—you guessed it—indirectly helps your SEO.
How to Use Social Media for Brand Awareness
- Team up with influencers. Influencers already have an established following on their platforms. Partnering with them would allow you to tap into that audience, so make sure it’s the right influencer for your business. This can introduce your brand to people who might not have found you otherwise.
- Make interactive content. Ever gotten sucked into an Instagram poll or a Buzzfeed quiz? That’s the magic of interactive content. People love sharing their opinions (sometimes a little too much), so create fun polls, quizzes, or live videos to get them involved. Of course, this only works if your target audience is likely to respond.
- Encourage user-generated content (UGC). Don’t just talk at your audience—get them talking about you. Sharing UGC shows appreciation, builds trust, and makes your followers feel like VIPs.
Practical Tips to Boost Social Signals
Here’s how to make the most of social signals for SEO:
Create Shareable Content
- Use high-quality visuals like photos, videos, and infographics.
- Write headlines that are clear and catchy.
- Add social sharing buttons to your website so users can easily share your content.
Engage with Your Audience
- Respond to comments and messages to show your audience you value them.
- Run contests, polls, or giveaways to increase engagement.
- Host live Q&A sessions to connect with followers in real-time.
Use Analytics to Improve
- Use Google Analytics to track how much traffic your website gets from social media.
- Identify which posts perform best and replicate their success.
- Monitor metrics like bounce rate, time on page, and conversion rates to see how social traffic impacts your SEO.
Like and Share
Social signals may not directly improve your Google rankings, but they can play a significant role in boosting user engagement, branded searches, and overall website authority. By creating engaging content, interacting with your audience, and using analytics to refine your approach, you can make social signals a powerful part of your SEO strategy.
Contact Uptick today for help with social media and SEO!
