7 Ways To Use Social Media To Improve SEO

There are myriad reasons why having a social media presence is so important for businesses: to strengthen brand awareness, build a community, foster relationships with customers and industry contacts, gain more clicks to your website… just to name a few.

But can you use social media to improve SEO? Indirectly, yes. Likes, shares and follower counts aren’t direct Google ranking factors, but social media gets your content in front of people who may search for you, visit your site and link to it. Here are 7 ways to make that happen:

Grow An Engaged Following

Your follower count doesn’t change your Google rankings on its own. A bigger, engaged audience does mean more people see your content, which leads to more visits, more searches for your business name and more chances that someone links to your site. Focus on followers who are genuinely interested, not on buying numbers.

Choose The Right Social Media Platforms

It’s simply not time efficient to be active on all forms of social media, so you have to ask yourself: where does my ideal audience get social? You want to be present on platforms where you can interact with your potential customers and industry colleagues. For example: if you’re in the food or retail business, you’ll want to invest in Pinterest; if you’re in photography or fashion, consider taking up Instagram.

Source: Audience Bloom

Engage With Your Audience

The fact is, your followers will be more motivated to interact with you on social media and share your content if you return the love. Always endeavour to reply to all comments and acknowledge all shares with either a thanks or a reciprocal share.

Build Your Network

In addition to engaging followers who may someday be your customers, you should also focus on building a network of industry professionals. Start cultivating relationships with other people doing similar business by engaging with them and sharing their content on social media. Not only will they likely return the favour, but it could also lead to some offline opportunities like customer referrals, partnerships and links from their websites.

Make It Easy To Share Your Content

First, focus on creating high quality content that’s worth sharing. Then, encourage others to share it by making it easy for them to do so. Use calls to action on your blog posts that say something along the lines of “If you found this article helpful, please share it”, and install a WordPress social media plugin so readers can share it with one click. Remember, the more work required to share your content, the less likely people are to do it.

Hold Contests

Offering a prize is a good way to inspire your followers to like, comment on and share your content. You could have them submit ideas for a photo caption and the best entry wins. Check each platform’s promotion rules first (Facebook, for example, doesn’t allow “share to enter” competitions), and follow your state’s rules on trade promotions. Either way, you are generating more buzz around your brand and website, inspiring interaction, and gaining more followers as the contest is shared around.

Increase Brand Awareness

All of the above are ingredients in the recipe for increasing awareness of your brand. The more your brand is out there, the more likely people are to search for your business by name, visit your website and mention or link to you, all of which support your SEO.

Read these other articles for more on Social Media & SEO:

• Which Social Media To Use For Your Business
• Tips For Using A Facebook Page For Your Business
• Is SEO Dead? What Still Works in 2026

Contact us to learn more about the social media and SEO services we offer at Rock Solid Marketing in Mildura.