Social signals

Topic Overview

Social signals refer to a webpage's collective shares, likes, and overall social media visibility as perceived by search engines. These activities contribute to a page's organic search ranking and are seen as another form of citation, similar to backlinks. Social signals were introduced as a way for search engines to determine the quality of content. If a piece of content is being shared, liked, and commented on, it's likely that there's value to it. These interactions are seen by search engines and contribute to a website's overall SEO strategy.

Importance

Social signals are significant because they add to a webpage's credibility and enhance its visibility in organic search. They can lead to increased backlinks, as influential shares result in more visibility and therefore more opportunities for websites to link to the page.

Usage Types

Social signals can be split into two categories: direct and indirect.

Direct Social Signals

• Shares, likes, and comments: These are direct indications of a page's social popularity.
• Brand Mentions: A mention of your brand on social media, whether linked or unlinked.
• Posts and Tweets: Relevant posts or tweets about your brand or website on social media platforms.

Indirect Social Signals

• Increased inbound links due to improved online visibility: If a post goes viral on social media, it tends to attract a lot of attention and links.
• Decreased bounce rate, higher time-on-site: Quality content, frequently shared, increases the chances of users sticking around, which is tracked as a positive user engagement signal.

In Conclusion

Although social signals don't directly affect a website's ranking, they do influence it indirectly. The quality of content is judged by search engines based on the amount of social interaction, and the visibility of a page can increase via shares and likes, leading to more opportunities for backlinks.