How Much Does Social Media Help with SEO?

Are there ways that social media can help with the SEO process?

Video transcript:

Tim: I’m just trying to keep my copywriter busy, too. Well, I’m trying to get more work lined up for that. So, I’m going back and forth between a couple of things, and I was revisiting that yesterday. That’s why that was fresh on the top of my mind.

David: Did you take a look at the process on Curious Ants on how to write a blog post for SEO? Because in there is some of this advice but it also… Things like, don’t forget to promote it after you publish it. Don’t just publish it and walk away. You know, I’m not a huge fan of the idea that social affects SEO, but it doesn’t hurt either. Right. So, to make sure you’re sending your articles to social media to kind of get it out there so people can find it. I have one client, and it’s their space, the way their niche is, but we just make sure every article they publish ends up on Pinterest. It’s just an automated Pinterest thing. They get so much traffic from Pinterest. And it can be really, really helpful. It’s not SEO. Right? It’s social. Right? But if I can help my client get relevant traffic, that’s great.

Tim: Right.

David: So, what we’ve done, is one thing, write a good article. And by doing one thing, we’re using it in two different marketing channels. And I feel fine taking credit whether it gets it from Pinterest or from Google, and frankly, the client doesn’t care as long as they’re getting customers.

Tim: Yeah. Ultimately, that’s what they want, a well-rounded plan.

David: Yeah. Yeah. I think one of the misnomers is to think that search engine optimization is only about Google and forget that people use social media as search engines.

Tim: Oh, absolutely. Yep.  

David: You know, you can go… I mean, some people use Pinterest as a search engine. Right. All the time. But people use Facebook as a search engine in a different way. They go, “Hey, who’s a good dentist in town?” Well, if you love your dentist, and you’re following your dentist on Facebook, and you get a reminder now and then about your dentist, they’re going to be in your head the next time your friend says, “Hey, who’s a good dentist?” Oh, yeah. I just saw a post the other day; here’s their Facebook page, or here’s the landing page.

Tim: Right.

David: And then it’s still search engine optimization. It just works very differently.

Tim: And if you look at, like, how much Pinterest appears in organic search, which then takes you to your page. That’s the intent. And so, I would argue that it is very much search engine optimization. As you said, too, it’s not just… I mean, those other platforms are search platforms, just as much as they are social.

David: Right.

Tim: I find a lot of things on Pinterest or even Etsy if that’s relative to their industry, you know?

David: Yeah.

Tim: Nextdoor is a good one.  

David: Oh, yeah. Yeah.