How Social Signals Are Affecting Search Engine Rankings

Over the past few years, the criteria used by search engines to rank websites has been completely revolutionized with most search engine coming up with new, unique and accurate means of ranking web pages. This means that small business marketing companies have to come up with new and effective strategies or else risk having their clients’ websites ranked poorly. 

How websites are ranked 

Most search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing not only consider the website’s keyword density but also social signals from popular social websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest. This means that social signals data is collected regularly and used to rate how popular a given brand or company is. The search engine results are therefore altered depending on the popularity of the brand or the company on social websites.

With these developments, entrepreneurs have no option in their small business marketing strategies but to change the way they relate with their clients on social media. Social signals data that is collected by search engines include:

• Number of followers on twitter
• Number of tweets that mention the small business
• Number of retweets of your postings
• Number of Google + Followers
• Number of Shares and Plus 1’s on Google +
• Number of Facebook followers, likes, and shares for your brand 

Create a strong social media presence

One of the best and easiest small business marketing techniques is ensuring that your brands social media postings are read, liked, and shared by as many people as possible. Remember that the higher the number of people subscribed to your webpage commenting on your content, the higher the probability of referring their friends to your brand. Every body wants to be associated with a strong and reputable brand. This is why it is so important to spend time creating these social platforms and posting interesting and relevant content to them often. 

Encourage followers to refer their friends

Most people tend to trust information that is obtained directly from their friends or family. This means that a potential client is likely to follow your update if he/she is referred to by a friend than when you market directly to them. Create content which your current clients and customers want to share; they’re more likely to refer your business to others if you’re providing great content!

Increase activity on social websites

One of the social signals that will highly determine your website’s page ranking is your activity on social media. Activity means the frequency at which you update your followers on the various social media platforms and also the time taken to respond to queries. If you are dedicated in your small business marketing strategies, then you have to ensure that your clients are constantly updated and all their questions are answered in a timely manner.

We all want our businesses to rank high on the search engines that is for sure.  What is just as important or even more so is to get your referral engine up and running so you’re getting warm leads (which have a much higher conversion rate) from your current and/or past customers.

If you need assistance with creating this level of visibility for your brand, just give us a call 864-735-5488 or email us at Spark Local Marketing, we’ll be happy to help you make your business more visible and more successful.