How Social Media Affects Page Rank

Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and other sites are being used to leverage the power of sharing to boost page rank.

But, just how does social media affect page rank?

Why does it affect rankings in a positive manner?

The number of times a blog, article, post, video or picture are shared is directly related to the credibility it’s given. Search engines try to rank the most relevant (and most credible) sources at the top of their listings in order to improve the user’s search experience.

Use Keywords

Just as with SEO, keywords must be used effectively with social media. In order to improve the page rank of your site and your social media profiles, your keywords should be consistent across all platforms.

That does not, however, mean that your content should be duplicated; that can actually cause rankings to plummet. If you want to share an article about scholarships for military dependents, use keywords that relate to that topic.

Don’t Forget to Check In

Check-ins have become popular amongst users on Facebook, Twitter and FourSquare. When a user checks in, he lets his followers know where he is. Brick and mortar businesses, in particular, benefit from this because every check-in is essentially a “vote” for that business.

Geotagging is a related feature that allows users to snap photos that are automatically tagged with the user’s location.

This feature is available on most smartphones today. When these pictures are shared on sites like Instagram and Flickr, it provides more visibility to your business.

Use Google’s Own Social Network

When most people talk about page rank, what they’re really concerned with is Google page rank. While the other search engines are relevant, Google boasts the largest number of users and daily searches, so it’s the one most marketers target with their SEO efforts.

Google’s social network is called Google+ (Google Plus). This network is probably given higher consideration than others when it comes to page rank. Users give their approval of content on Google+ by click the +1 option. These improve search engine rankings as well as Google author rank if you have an author profile.

Improving Page Rank with Your Social Media Presence

Here are a few tips for getting the most page rank out of your social media profiles:

• Create interesting, share-worthy content.
• Use images to increase the likelihood your content is shared.
• Make it easy for users to check in at your location by having a presence on all networks that allow this feature (Facebook, FourSquare and Google+).
• When posting or sharing content, use quality keywords to make the posts easy to find in the search results.

Social media has been a boon to marketers and business owners. Use your knowledge of how it works to improve your standing.