Social signs do matter in SEO
A month ago, we started working with the local Sydney office of an international software publishing company. Initial Assessment Current Rankings: Good rankings for many long-tail keywords. AdWords Campaign: Effective due to a high-quality score for most keywords. Website Optimisation: Super optimised with meta titles, descriptions, bullet points, and anchor texts. Missing elements: microdata and […]
A month ago, we started working with the local Sydney office of an international
software publishing company.
Table of Contents
Initial Assessment
- Current Rankings: Good rankings for many long-tail keywords.
- AdWords Campaign: Effective due to a high-quality score for most keywords.
- Website Optimisation:
- Super optimised with meta titles, descriptions, bullet points, and anchor texts.
- Missing elements: microdata and authorship markup.
Link Building Opportunities
Due to the lack of previous link-building activities, we found numerous opportunities while planning the link-building campaign. This meant no harmful footprints or inherited black hat SEO practices.
Social Media Strategy
We began sharing the client’s products and services through our Twitter account. Here’s what we did:
- Keywords: Used the right keywords.
- Hashtags: Applied proper hashtags.
- Account: Utilised our account, which is topically related to the client’s products and services.
Results
- Engagement:
- Eight retweets
- 67 favourites
- A significant number of clicks to the client’s website
Impact on Rankings
We were pleasantly surprised when Moz’s ranking update showed that the keywords mentioned in the tweet (flipbook software, flipbook software, and flipbook software) had improved in Google rankings. The entire group of keywords saw a rise.
Important Considerations
While a few retweets alone won’t drastically improve rankings, they are part of a combination of factors. In this case:
- The client’s keywords were already ranking on the fourth page.
- The domain metrics were good.
- The site was well-optimised.
The social component added authority to this page, improving rankings.
How to Use Twitter to Increase Social Signals
- Topically Related Account:
- Use an account related to the client’s products/services.
- Ensure the account has followers interested in these topics.
- Social Authority:
- Use accounts with good Social Authority. This post explains Social Authority well.
- Relevant Hashtags:
- Research and use relevant hashtags for your locality and product/service.
- Avoid non-targeted hashtags.
- Engagement:
- Engage with followers by commenting, tweeting, and being part of the conversation.
- Don’t just post about your interests.
Conclusion
Social signals play a crucial role in SEO. Combining them with well-optimised content and good domain metrics can significantly impact rankings.
