Tips to Optimize Social Media for SEO: Build, Streamline, Encourage

Eric Dybala|@edybala

Business owners, freelance artists, bloggers and more share a common goal: to attract as many potential visitors to their websites as possible. Search Engine Optimization, known as SEO, is one of the primary methods of attracting visitors to a specific website.

The way in which search engines find  your sites is always evolving. Google, Yahoo, and Bing, the largest search engines, use different items and formulas in calculating the relevance of your site to the keywords searched by users.

In the last several months we have seen changes in the ways social media is used to impact SEO, and if you are not already on board you might just be left behind. Here are some tips to ensure you drive the most traffic possible to your site.

Build an active, engaged presence on social networking sites. Since social media engagement is a new factor for determining relevance, you simply can’t benefit if you aren't influential or if you aren’t there. Now is the time to get started building your social media presence. Building a following can take a little time when done correctly, so don't procrastinate.

Streamline your website so visitors ca share your posts, images, and content via their own social media . If your site is built on WordPress or any other major platform there are multiple plugins that add this feature. Most users value their time and want to move quickly. If you do not offer this option users will not always take the time to login to a site, copy a link, and post it.

Encourage your readers to share your content – smart business owners know that assuming people will take the action you want without you explicitly telling them to do so is a waste of time. Be direct in your posts and encourage readers to share your content via social networks if they find it useful.

There will always be people who resist change and will refuse to build a Google+ profile or create a Pinterest account.  Don't pass on social media for your business just because you think these people are in the majority, or that plain ol' traditional SEO techniques will be enough to get good rankings for your site.  While traditional search engine optimization is important for your website, the increased traffic and inbound links you can gain from effective social media will take your SEO to the next level.