Social Signals: New Ranking Opportunities For Socially Active Dealers

Late in 2010, both Google and Bing affirmed that they use “social signals,” or the activity from Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites, to affect certain page rankings in search results. At the most basic level, this means that when a person tweets, shares or “likes” one of your web pages, that activity may be considered when ranking page results.

What does “may be considered” mean? A “social signal” enhancement to page ranking can be based on multiple criteria:

• The authority of the person sharing (for instance, if someone has a lot of Twitter followers, their authority is given higher rank). For Facebook, they evaluate the number of shares without ranking the people sharing them.
• The number of times the page or article is shared/re-tweeted (more times a page is shared = higher ranking)
• Whether the link shared is flagged as “nofollow” (meaning that the person sharing the link does not want it given credit for page ranking)

So how can you make the most of social signals in your search strategy?

• On Twitter, have something to say, and say it often. Use your Twitter and Facebook accounts to share information that would be of interest to your audience. This helps gain followers. It doesn’t always have to be a link to your web site, but should position you as a great resource for information that helps people want to listen to you and (ultimately) do business with you. The more you do this, the more followers you get, and the more your activity is given higher ranking.
• Keep your web content fresh, interesting and shareable. By offering content that is of interest to people at all stages of the ownership cycle, you have more opportunity to have your content shared and potentially reach people who are primed to engage you in sales.
• Make every single page on your web site shareable via Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites. As more people share the great information you have to offer, the higher your site and your pages will rank in results.

Regardless of the “social signals” used by Google and Bing to rank results, doing all of this will still build your audience and improve your social media presence.

Search Optics offers a full complement of services to help you build a solid online reputation and capitalize on social signals in search results, including managing your social media activity on Twitter and Facebook. Contact Search Optics today to find out how we can help you increase your reputation and presence with social media and reputation management!

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