MythBusting: Search and

SocialKelli Brown | Pixel/Point Press

SMX Israel 2015

The number of fans on a Facebook fan page affects search rankings

for content shared on that page.

Busted!

Correlation vs. Causation

The TruthSocial network follower numbers do not work like domain authority.

Ranking algorithms do not take follower numbers into account.

http://bit.ly/1c4Feqc

Social profiles like Facebook pages and

Twitter accounts rank well in search results.

Confirmed!

The TruthIt’s true.

Social media account profiles often rank very well for company

or organization names.It’s a good way to “own” the top 10 results for your brand name.

http://selnd.com/1F3dCwS

Social networks are their own “search

engines.”

Confirmed!

The TruthSort of. Social networks are

increasingly used for searches – FB has 1.5 billion

searches conducted every day (Google has more than 3 billion). The introduction of FB Universal

Search may boost this trend.http://bit.ly/1kwejuW

Social authority – the number of followers

for a Facebook page or Twitter account – might eventually matter for SEO.

Plausible!

http://moz.com/search-ranking-factors

Note: Correlated factors from social signals, not causation for rankings

The Truth:Search signals and ranking factors change periodically, and this could

eventually affect the SERPs.

http://bit.ly/1KEUy9j http://bit.ly/209KO2n

When a page is shared heavily in the social networks, Google

ranks the page higher in the search engine

results pages (SERPs).Busted!

The Truth:Great content ranks well in search

and is heavily shared, showing there is a correlation between

those two. But heavy sharing of posts does

not cause them to be ranked higher in the search engines.

http://bit.ly/1is4uXx

If SEO is your goal, focus your social

efforts on Google+.

Busted!

The TruthGoogle + is now treated largely the

same way as other social networks in the search engines. Google is no

longer displaying page post results as part of search cards.

http://bit.ly/1PU1qXo

Employee advocacy – when employees share a company post – will

boost ranking in search results.

Busted!

The TruthEric Enge: “Google doesn’t use Facebook as

a discovery, indexing, or ranking factor.”Google is only able to “see” social media

posts when they are posted to public profiles.

Also – social networks links are nofollow links, so they do not contribute to rank in

the same way.

http://bit.ly/1NAd3R1

Group activity and posts can display

in the search results.

Confirmed!

The TruthGoogle can and does index posts in group activity where the groups are

public.But … many groups aren’t public.

Sharing content on Twitter can cause it to

be indexed and displayed faster.

Plausible!

The Truth“We believe it’s almost certainly the

case that Google saw the initial tweet on Twitter and it caused that first visit by Googlebot to the #singersongwriter page. Given the Followerwonk Social

Authority level of 54, this was not triggered by the highest authority people that tweeted that page.”

http://bit.ly/1IJOBZv

Using URL shorteners, like

Bit.ly, harms SEO.

Busted!

The TruthAssuming the shortener used passes a 301 redirect to the page in question, there is no harm done in shortening

the URL for tracking in social analytics tools.

http://selnd.com/1pcKwls

Best Practices• Produce great content and share on social – just

not to appease Google’s algorithms.• Own your top 10 branded results by claiming your

name on social networks.• Track content performance with Google URL

Builder and shortened URLs as needed.• Encourage employees to share posts for

increased reach and industry dominance – not page rank.

• Skip scammy practices – buying fans, paying for +1s/shares/comments – as it won’t help SEO and will harm your organic following.

Thanks!

PIXEL/POINT PRESSYOUR DIGITAL MARKETING TEAM.

pixelpointpress.com