Has social media supplanted SEO as the key to grabbing higher page rankings?
That’s a question that plenty of casino affiliates are asking but, according to recent posting on Search Engine Journal by Kelsey Jones titled, How Social Media Changed SEO and Why Your Business Can’t Thrive Without it, it’s already too late.
Jones says social media has changed SEO down to its very core and that’s a good thing for search engines, end-users, and SEO practitioners.
The Death of the Backlink
SEO, as you might know, is a very fluid set of practices designed to boost page rankings and draw traffic. These practices, such as backlinking, lend themselves to abuse and manipulation. (You probably knew that, too you naughty boy!)
That’s where social media comes into the picture. Social shares are a much better indicator of organic sharing than backlinks ever were. While Google hasn’t eliminated backlinks entirely as a ranking factor, it relies on them a lot less than it once did.
Besides ranking a lot higher on the authenticity chart than backlinks, social shares also include some other factors that search engines are looking for from the get go.
For example, end-users aren’t likely to share content from slow-loading sites, or sites that are loaded with poor quality content. Social shares are also a lot tougher to fake than backlinks.
Those factors combine to make social media activity a one-stop-shop for search bots.
Finally
Jones is emphatic, and we agree, that SEO is never going to die. The fundamentals that Google lays out for web publishers are always going to be a factor.
At the same time, it’s important that SEOs realize when it’s time to actually move on and embrace the current set of best practices.
In this case, social media and social media engagement is the new coin of the SEO realm and the sooner you’re on board, the better off you’ll be.