How Social Media Helps SEO? - for small local business

How to use Social Media for Local SEO

For a small business, it’s all about getting people from social media to your website. Big brands may be able to improve search engine rankings just by having 1000’s of followers who interact with them daily. But Google knows this is unrealistic for small business.

1. Make sure you have a link to your website from all your social media accounts.

These sites enable you to list your website in your profile.
This gives you powerful backlinks to your website that helps improve your rankings.

Link from your business and personal accounts.

Facebook
– In the Business”About” and Personal “About” sections

Twitter
– In the Business Profile and Personal Profile sections

Linkedin
– In the Business Visit Website and Personal Contact Info sections

Pinterest
– In the Business and Personal “Claim” section

Instagram
– In the Business Profile and Personal Profile sections

YouTube
– In the About section and also in the description of every video

Go to 15min 19sec in this video for instructions https://youtu.be/hXqJj8tP88k

2. Post links to blog posts and pages on your website

Google My Business, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin

Go to the blog post or page on your website. Take a copy of the url. eg mywebsite.com.au/new-blog-post.

Write something about the blog post on your social media site. Then paste in the URL. Also, add some hashtags to help people find your posts retrospectively. If the image does not look any good then upload a better image to use on the social media post. (not to the website, just to the social post)

For example

The aim is to get people to your website

a) People click directly on the link and go to your website and read your blog post and if they stay on the post and spend time reading the theory is that Google may then like this page more and rank it higher. People may also share the post directly from your blog or link to it from their website. Which can also help this post to rank higher.

b) People who have never heard of you may find out about you because your followers like, share and comment on the post on social media. So they may also click the link and go to your website. They may also follow you because of your great content and therefore see your next post and go to your website.

c) Sometimes it’s not relevant to link to your website from your post. But people may see it and then search in Google to find out about your business.

The key is that you need to share the link to a page or post on your website as often as possible. Or post something so interesting and relevant they will search for you in Google. The aim is to get them off social media and onto your website.

3. Pin images from your website to Pinterest. Pin videos from YouTube to Pinterest.

Pining Images from your website to Pinterest creates links to your website. So people can go straight from Pinterest to your website. Make sure to add hashtags, and your location so people can find your pins in the future.

For example

Share videos from YouTube to Pinterest. Make sure there is a link in the description of the YouTube video that goes to your website.

4. Add images and videos to Instagram.

The main benefit of Instagram is the profile link. You can not link from posts to your website. However, if you post on Instagram people may search for you in Google.

5. Using Hashtags increases visibility

Most social media sites are search engines in their own right. People can search using keywords or hashtags.

So using hashtags can make a huge difference to your visibility.

Using hashtags means that people can find your posts months later when they are searching for that hashtag.

Other General Tips on using Social Media to Help SEO

1. Use branded social media accounts – build brand awareness, loyalty & Google trust

Use the same extension eg @largehopeseo and profile image and banner on all your business accounts.

a) People then search in Google and social media for your brand or your name and go to your website.
b) People on social media may also recommend you to others who search in Google or social media and go to your website.

2. Build your followers – therefore more people to go to your website

It’s important to get followers who will actually take action and go to your website. Buying lots of followers does nothing for SEO as they are not real and will not go to your website.

For more detailed SEO advice check out my SEO eBooks.
I plan to write an eBook specific to every local industry. So please contact me to request one for your industry.