I attended a session by Mark Traphagen called, “Google+? Social SEO? SRSLY? Hell YES & Here’s Why!“. Here is a recap: 

Mark is the Senior Director of Online Marketing, Stone Temple Consulting. 

We are coming into a time period where social media is maturing and getting some push-back. With maturity comes the responsibility to demonstrate the real business value. The next steps are integrating the efforts of social and search.

This is not about Google+ or any particular social media channel. It’s about the fact that your prospects are on the other side of a wall in your life and business. How do you find the cracks in that wall to make a connection and build an audience?

Social SEO is one crack in the wall that separates you from your customers that you can exploit and expand.

Social SEO Myths

Correlations between social signals and search engine ranking factors do seem to exist. Several studies have been published that demonstrate how high ranking pages frequently share high social validation. But the assumption that social signals directly affect page rank is short of the mark of what’s really happening.

Stone Temple Consulting has conducted several studies to test how social media interaction with their site content affected Google ranking for that content. Particularly they tested how sharing on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ impacted search ranking. The results were a mixed bag. For instance, Google does not have indexing access to most of the content posted to Facebook. At the time that Stone Temple studied the Twitter correlation, Google was only indexing 6% of tweets posted. And, at the end of the Google+ study they found no evidence of Google+ shares driving rankings. They did find, however, that Google+ would lead to quick indexation of a page shared on the network. There is evidence that indexation also happens more quickly for pages shared on Twitter. In all of these studies, they never found any evidence that social sharing and engagement had any direct impact on how the linked content ranked in search.

Matt Cutts did at one time confirm that Google does not use social shares as a direct ranking signal. He indicated that social sharing was not a reliable signal because Google is not able the see everything posted in networks other than Google+. Also, the authority on any given topic varies too greatly from person to person.

Google is using social media as a long term, cumulative authority signal.

Sidebar – The one exception is logged-in personalized search. When logged in, personalized search results will include Google+ posts from people and brands that users follow.

So, what about the correlations?

The more likely impact of social signals is that content gets exposed to more eyeballs, thereby increasing the likelihood of the things that DO affect search rankings will happen. The correlation exists but is indirect.

So with that in mind, how can we leverage the social exposure of site content?

The Social SEO Cycle

The combination of social media and content can be used as a machine to drive the activities that will impact search visibility over time. What is crucial to keep in mind is that this is an investment process. It is a set of ongoing tactics that will produce results over a long term commitment. Do not expect SEO magic to happen over night.

1. Content

Publish Quality Content. Content is what sets the wheels of this cycle in motion. You have to have something to share, or this goes absolutely nowhere. Not just any old content will do. You must consistently produce written pieces, infographics, images, and videos that connect with your audience. Don’t bother publishing anything that isn’t meaningful and valuable to the audience you hope will consume, engage, and share.

2. Visibility 

Shares/Links/Likes – Create The Connections. Social media is no field of dreams. Once set up, the social channels you choose to use to connect with your community have to be maintained and kept active with audience centric posts and engagement. Once you start crafting valuable content, start the social sharing cycle by sharing that content with your social tribes.

3. Audience

Subscribers/Followers – Build A Fan Base. The next step requires you do deepen the relationship with the people exposed to your content. It isn’t enough that people see you. You need them to enjoy what you do enough to join your community. You need to take them from see you to like you.

4. Fans

Fan the Flames and Nurture Your Community. For the people that have chose to identify themselves with you, you have to nurture that relationship. They are not a commodity, they are your friends and advocates. Don’t just push content to them, let them know that you value the time they spend in the community you’re building together. Engage. Respond to comments. Recognize their contributions to the group conversation.

5. Reinforcement 

Study to Understand Community. The more you encourage the conversation, the more you will learn about what makes the groups you gather tick. Seek to discover what content should be developed based on what your community is interested in. Begin to close the loop you’re building and use these relationships to inform the content creation process. Better community relationships lead to better high value content.

This isn’t limited to the activities within the walls of your social gardens. Pay attention to the conversations and interests of your community outside of your direct connection. What else do they talk about? What else do they search for? Let the community interactions inform your efforts to claim new and better search territory.

6. Authority

SEO starts to improve at this point in the cycle. As your relationships inform how you dial in search and content strategies you create the conditions for community to respond. They will validate your authority on the things that matter most to them and your business.

7. Discovery

The more your SEO improves, the better your chances are of being discovered by new people. Those discoverers become the newest members of the community feeding into the cycle and pushing the wheels to roll ever forward.

Nothing will happen if you don’t build your network first. There will come a moment when everything you’re learning about the people connected to you enables you to create that one lightening in a bottle piece that resonates with fans and breaks the ranking dam. That little crack in the wall between you and the people that make your business a success grows to become a doorway between your world and theirs.

To see more of the detailed information on the studies, research, and results, please enjoy viewing Mark Traphagen’s full presentation.