Is there a link between SEO and social media? How will the role of SEO change as we consume more and more content?
Every day there seems to be something new to keep in mind when preparing your social posts, and we agree that it can be overwhelming.
Luckily, we have the SEO and Website Optimisation Specialist, Khaleelah Jones of Careful Feet Digital and Ada’s List to reveal a few tricks and tips. And we dive into how to maximise your user experience once they are on your page…
The role of SEO in social media
There is a lot of awareness today about SEO keywords and the link with social media around images and more accessible social media. Social media searches and exposure rely on hashtags, which we “search” for. There is a search function for tags, people, places.
“Think about social media as a mini search engine.”
- It is important to optimise your social pages to facilitate ease of use and search-ability. Khaleelah recommends using camelcase, where you capitalise the first letter of every word in your hashtags, so it is easier to read and pull apart what you’re trying to say. e.g. #AltMarketingSchool
- Another bonus of having your social media optimised is that Google considers “trust signals”. These signals refer to what goes on outside your website (but those linked to your website). If your social channels have great engagement, Google believes you’re a legitimate entity and have a service to offer worth suggesting to users.
- Another social media platform that is a massive driver of traffic is Pinterest, as long as the people who are on Pinterest are your ideal audience. Consider who is using Pinterest and see if this aligns with your excellent website user or client. Keep this in mind also when creating pins/content for Pinterest.
Boosting your User Experience
In a world where tech and content are kings, it is essential to keep users on your page or website for as long as possible. You don’t want them to land on your page and immediately “bounce back off”, keeping them there is key.
- Make your website and purpose clear. When you build a website, you assume that what you are doing is apparent to outsiders, but this isn’t always the case. Try to think about when people come to your website organically for the first time. What do they see? Once they click on it, you have 3-5 seconds to clear who you are and how you are fulfilling their needs. You can achieve this in a couple of sentences that get to the point of what/who you are.
- Time spent on your pages. We take it for granted that people will spend a lot of time reading our content to take the following action step or click on our calls to action. In reality, this isn’t true, so make your calls to action explicit, in your face and crystal clear.
- Look at competitor sites. It is always healthy to check out your competition as it provides the opportunity to see what they are doing that is working and not working. You can liberally emulate what you love and also know how you can do other areas better.
The future of how we consume content
With the rise of audio-only platforms like Clubhouse and the increasing popularity of visual/image-based sites, it is not surprising that Google and SEO are adapting.
With that in mind, it’s important to remember that Google will always need text to “read” what the site is about. When you create content, whether visual or audio, Khaleelah reminds us of the need to make the description text as accurate as possible.
“The cadence at which you create content is also important, and consistency is key!”
khaleelah jones
It is what Khaleelah referred to as the “barometer of freshness” and works in the same ways like social media and podcasts. Google looks at how fresh and updated your content is and is more likely to find and push relevant content.
“User experience is key!”
In the future, it seems clear that SEO will remain essential for driving traffic to our content but that the experience users have when they are on our websites is even more critical.
- Creating a site that loads quickly, is mobile-optimised and is very clear on its aims, services and calls to action will only help users navigate your site and make them want to stay online for longer.
- A happy website user returns time and time again (and one who recommends you to their friends), who leaves glowing reviews and who Google will believe, too.
- Go back and re-read your site and ask someone else to give their opinion and check your bounce rate for your website, too.
Understanding the Role of SEO
“Content is anything that adds value to the reader”s life.”
Avinash Kaushik
SEO truly does not have to be complicated, yet it’s an invaluable tool to get more of your content seen online. It’s an organic tool to drive people back to your content again and again.
When it comes to new content, identify your existing content that has gathered great results, and make it better. Find a way to repurpose effective content.
You can also stay up to date with all things SEO on Khaleelah’s Instagram, Twitter and website.
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