Social Media Now an Official Search Engine Ranking Factor
Tuesday, 18th January 2011
It's official - we live in a social world. Google and Bing have both announced that they now use social data in their search results algorithms.
They use information such as how many Twitter followers you have, how many times your content has been retweeted, how many facebook fans you have and how often your page has been 'liked' in facebook to determine the organic search results (along with a boatload of other factors).
Here's what Matt Cutts at Google said about social media signals and search engine rankings in late December:
So What Can You Do Today?
Set up a facebook page for your business, and integrate this with your web site. Use it to grow the number of your Facebook fans.
Set up a twitter account, and use it to grow your twitter followers.
Blog
Have a blog to give your business some personality in the social media market.
And remember these rules
- The higher the 'clout' of the person sharing your content the better
- The more likes, tweets or stumbles your page gets, the better organic positions your page will achieve
The Social Network won the 2011 Golden Globe for best movie recently - you should make 2011 your year of increasing your Social Network if you want to get to the top, or stay at the top, of search engine rankings.
