Are you losing money?
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2025 6:45 am
Traffic spikes on eCommerce sites this spring have been higher than the traditional spikes we usually see in November and December. Surprisingly, traffic continued to grow in June 2020:
Traffic to eCommerce sites
Traffic growth remained constant during the pandemic months (March-June 2020), averaging 36% across all eCommerce categories. In addition to general retailers such as Amazon, Walmart and eBay, the three categories of Home & Garden, Food and Sports & Outdoors are the ones showing the most significant traffic growth during this time, with a year-over-year rate of between 40 and 50%.
Ecommerce categories with the highest traffic growth
eCommerce traffic sources
Increasing traffic is one thing, but understanding where it comes from is another if businesses want to see the benefits of attracting more visitors. Here’s what we’ve found regarding traffic sources during the pandemic:
Mobile traffic has accounted for approximately 70% of all visits to ecommerce sites. That’s why optimizing for mobile is essential if you want to increase conversions (check out our Ultimate Guide to eCommerce SEO for more tips on mobile optimization).
Around 60% of all ecommerce traffic is Direct, which indicates the role that brand recognition and consumer loyalty play for any online sales business.
Main sources of ecommerce traffic
eCommerce advertising trends: an opportunity amid the crisis?
Paid traffic is not the most important source of traffic in eCommerce, but to get customers and operate in a highly competitive environment, large e-retailers have always been interested in advertising online.
Online advertising spending in eCommerce: an overview
Globally, nearly 50% of all eCommerce advertisers across multiple categories spend up to $1,000 per month on Google Ads campaigns, so it's not necessarily an action reserved for those with larger budgets.
Monthly spending on ecommerce advertising
In the United States, 30% of ecommerce advertisers remain within the $1,000 monthly limit when it comes to their advertising spend.
Budgets tend to increase with competition in various industries. According to our data collected through our advertising toolkit , general and fashion retailers are the biggest spenders on advertising, with approximately 50% of the domains analyzed within these sectors spending over $150,000 per month.
Let's take a look at how the coronavirus pandemic has affected these spending levels:
Online advertising spending during the COVID-19 crisis
Budget cuts and widening gaps
From our data, it is clear that the coronavirus crisis has impacted global digital advertising spend.
Comparing year-over-year data for the pandemic months (March-June 2019 vs. 2020), we found that almost everyone, from small to large-scale advertisers, has reduced online advertising budgets by an average of 20%.
Initially, those spending more than $1 million a month on online ads were more reluctant to make significant cuts, but by June 2020, all advertisers had begun to show less confidence in digital ad spending.
Changes in online advertising June 2020
(Lost) opportunities
With advertising spending down, online advertising costs are also falling. Due to the pandemic, most eCommerce sectors have seen a drop in average cost per click (CPC), which could mean advertisers can get more for every dollar they spend.
This opportunity is not consistent across all eCommerce industries – you can find a more detailed overview of digital advertising spending during the COVID-19 crisis and a look at industry-specific data in our recent blog post .
Emotional triggers and CTAs in eCommerce ads
Finding the right emotional trigger to encourage users to click on an ad is often the difference between the success or failure of an advertising campaign.
Examples like “Free Shipping,” “Free Returns,” and “Shipping Available” are dominating the CTA landscape among ecommerce ads; our research showed that 32% of all ads emphasize free delivery. This messaging has become increasingly popular during coronavirus times as consumers increasingly shop online for items they never bought online before.
However, a one-size-fits-all approach to advertising is not enough for online campaigns, as each industry has its own peculiarities:
Health & Beauty and Home & Garden ads often highlight exclusive factors with CTAs like “limited edition”;
Message quality is very important for sectors such as Pets ("recommended by veterinarians") and Electronics ("[trusted] from", "authorized company"); and
Sports & Outdoors and Fashion ads frequently use CTAs focused on urgency and novelty, with favorites like “new arrivals,” “shop the latest,” and “new collection” present in 26% of ads analyzed in these industries.
Popular calls-to-action in ecommerce advertising messages
Consumer demand in ecommerce
Here, our research has found patterns in consumer demand and shows how they are changing as a result of recent events.
The most popular products in the different categories
Average monthly search volume data from H1 2019 to H1 2020 reveals some interesting changes.
Dr. Fauci’s calls to wash hands every two hours have had a big impact. Hand sanitizer was one of the top 5 most searched products in the Health sector this year, with average monthly searches in the first half of 2020 at 638,400 globally (up from 74,000 in the same period last year).
Interestingly, the rest of the top 5 Health products remain similar year-over-year, so this change is clearly related to the pandemic.
With more people working from home, searches for webcams (3,045,000 in H1 2020 vs. 1,000,000 in 2019) replaced searches for drones in our year-over-year analysis of the most searched products in the Consumer Electronics category.
Home & Garden also indicates some shifts in consumer interest in turning homes into workplaces, as searches for office chairs (1,254,000 vs. 417,200) outpaced those for mattresses.
Searches in other industries have remained more or less consistent between these two periods.
Most popular products in online shopping during the pandemic
Certain products experienced a significant spike in online searches during the pandemic. We analyzed the items that demonstrated the largest year-over-year growth in searches across all e-commerce categories during the peak of the coronavirus outbreak (March-April 2020 vs. the same period in 2019):
Hand hygiene
A surge in demand for hand sanitizers during the pandemic was to be expected, but the numbers are staggering: online searches for hand gel increased by 19,038%:
Products of interest due to the pandemic
Outdoor activities
With the vast majority of the population spending more time than usual at home, interior products gained more presence in the online shopping space.
Searches for lawn chairs and outdoor toys have nearly tripled and quadrupled respectively, while sporting goods such as men's running apparel (+164%) and yoga mats (+323%) have also increased.
Other products of interest due to the pandemic
A more detailed look at the changes in consumer demand during the pandemic can be found in our recent blog post .
Ecommerce companies: adapting to the new normal
Many businesses have been navigating the unknown in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, as consumers and the broader market have shifted to a new reality of online shopping behaviors.
Next, we’ll look at what e-commerce businesses can do to make data-driven marketing decisions as they strive to stay ahead in a reshaped market landscape.
Main eCommerce platforms
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses that previously did not sell online or had a limited presence turned to platforms that provide quick solutions to create online stores.
Graphic showing traffic trends related to ecommerce platforms in 2020
In March 2020, Shopify saw over 7.3 million visits compared to the previous month. Shopify's overall traffic in Q1 2020 increased globally by 29% year-over-year, and searches for "Shopify free trial" grew by 89% during the month.
Creating an online store is only part of the challenge. Ensuring that it attracts qualified traffic, converts visitors into customers, and competes with the competition is critical to its success.
An action plan for eCommerce companies
Let's take a look at the landscape of the most important eCommerce stores in Spain , where some physical stores were affected. SEMrush has identified some key areas that new entrants in the eCommerce race should consider:
Increase traffic volume: Getting enough traffic volume is essential at times when customers are short on time, motivated by deals, and increasingly inclined to research items online before making a purchase;
Branded Search Optimization: Increasing brand awareness and targeting brand search can help you compete against big players; and
Targeting paid traffic: Allocating budgets to Google Ads and launching effective advertising campaigns can build brand awareness and attract website visitors who will then spend online or offline.
By analyzing the largest eCommerce companies in Spain, we have deduced three steps that both newly established and older eCommerce brands should take into account to avoid the collapse of their business:
#1. Analyze your competitors' strategies and traffic
Checking out your competitors' strategies is the first essential step in building and improving any brand's online presence.
SEMrush's Competitive Ranking Map in the Domain Overview report can provide a quick overview of your competitors' organic traffic percentage relative to the number of keywords they rank for:
Competitive Positioning Map overview of Australian retailers
Similarly, the competitor report in the advertising research tool can estimate how many keywords competitors are buying and how much they are spending on online ads:
Advertising Research tool screenshot
Pro Tip: SEMrush’s CI plugin can provide insights into the entire market segment by showing how brands stack up against each other in terms of audience size and traffic growth rate.
Growth Quadrant screenshot showing Australian retailers
#2. Identify where your competitors are winning
After identifying your strongest competitors, you can dig deeper into their actual strategies with SEMrush.
The Keyword Gap tool can reveal which brand has a stronger organic presence by evaluating exactly which organic keywords are and are not ranking in search results.
Keyword Gap tool screenshot
This can help eCommerce businesses identify opportunities to target new keywords that they may have previously neglected and, as a result, improve their organic performance.
A similar logic can be applied to paid search. The Keyword Gap tool also shows which keywords competing brands are bidding on, so by comparing these to search volumes and defining which “new” keywords to target in advertising campaigns, businesses can gain some traffic from other competing brands.
Keyword Gap tool screenshot showing list of keywords
Pro tip: Bidding on competitor branded keywords is allowed as long as their brand name is not mentioned, so this could be a great opportunity to get their customers' attention.
#3. Create attention-grabbing, resonant content
Newly discovered keywords from the previous step should be integrated into titles, product descriptions and body text in all relevant content to attract both search engines and users.
The Topic Research tool can be a great help in gathering content ideas that are attention-grabbing and optimized for both, from suggestions for the most popular questions to headline ideas to keep topics on hand.
Topic Research tool screenshot
When it comes to writing copy for paid search, it's also possible to research your competitors' past campaigns to gain insight into new ads.
SEMrush's Advertising Research tool provides a report on past Ad Texts and the time period in which they were published, which can be an indicator of their effectiveness.
Ad Copies report screenshot
Digital marketing in the post-COVID-19 world
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only accelerated some of the trends we were previously seeing in digital marketing, but it has also brought about some unexpected changes.
SEMrush research has revealed that changes have happened so quickly that many businesses have failed to adapt to the “new normal,” as is the case with the recent drama of Australian retailers. No brick-and-mortar business can afford to remain offline if its competitors are gaining ground in the online market.
Breaking into e-commerce and developing the kind of online visibility needed to succeed is no easy task, but there is no longer a choice in a competitive landscape that has undoubtedly changed forever.
With a solid SEO, PPC, and content strategy based on data and key lessons learned from industry leaders, businesses can prepare to not only stay afloat, but also become more resilient to any changes that come their way.Are you looking for ways to use social media to improve your content marketing strategy, SEO, and Google rankings ? Do you want to boost your SEO campaign using social media? We'll answer these questions in this article with practical social media tips for SEO marketing.
Improving your SEO strategy is vital because it increases your search visibility and rankings on Google. But fierce competition makes appearing in search results a challenge, especially as more content is published every day.
WorldOMeter data shows that marketing professionals publish nearly five million articles a day.
<a href="https://www.worldometers.info/">Statistics of global blogs posts published daily</a>
Graphic source via WorldOMeter
With this volume of content published and distributed every day, your chances of appearing in search engines are slim. But you can improve your chances with the right content strategy.
In this guide we will review important issues and offer you some valuable tips:
How do social media impact SEO?
Are social networks a ranking factor for Google?
How do social media connect to SEO?
What are the best social media sites for SEO?
7 Social Media Best Practices for SEO That Increase Your Rankings
How do social media impact SEO?
Social media doesn't directly contribute to SEO rankings, but the links you share on it increase your brand's exposure. They add to and influence search engine optimization in six ways:
Extend the distribution of content
Extend the useful life of your items
Improve online visibility and organic traffic
Increase brand recognition
Improve brand reputation
Local search engine optimization (SEO) is on the rise
The number of times you share content on social media does not affect your SEO rankings. However, when many people share your content on social media, it generates social signals indicating that your posts are useful to your target market.
Research conducted by CognitiveSEO yielded some exciting findings. After analyzing 23 million posts shared on selected platforms, they discovered a direct relationship between social media relevance and SEO. The shares, likes, and comments your posts receive are vital signals that Google and other search engines work with to rank your website.
Chart showing social presence and rankings
Source graphic via CongnitiveSEO
However, while links are useful, Google does not count them as if they were a link from an authority site. Despite this, you will agree that the pages that rank highest in search results are often the ones with the most social shares.
When describing how social media impacts SEO, Life Marketing highlights that it does not have a direct influence. But it does have an indirect positive effect on search rankings.
Mentions on social networks and positioning
At Pubcon Pro 2017, Google’s Gary Illyes had a keynote discussion with SEO Eric Enge . Gary outlined how Google could use online mentions of a brand.
The online context in which your brand participates and how people talk about you online can impact your positioning at this time.
— Gary Illyes
As you can see, social media success can influence your SEO. It’s clear that Google is looking for the right metrics, not just vanity ones, and so should you.
More on how social media supports SEO
Why is social media important for SEO? Since social media indirectly influences the factors that impact search rankings, it is important because it has the potential to drive quality web traffic to your blog.
When you create and publish quality material that connects with your target readers, they become ambassadors. Why? Because you offer them something of value. It means that your audience will read and share the articles with their friends and followers.
Their followers will do the same and the circle continues. Keep in mind that writing/creating content is a fantastic way to attract more eyes to your site. Content can be presented in any format as long as it connects with your audience. Some types of content that drive traffic and get the most shares on social media are:
Blog posts
Videos
Infographics
Podcast
These materials offer your target audience useful information that keeps them coming back and ultimately generates leads. It's content marketing, sharing valuable data that helps readers. But you won't have a significant impact if you don't distribute it properly.
This is where social media comes into play. So when you share your posts, your audience amplifies your content by sharing it further. In this way, you increase your visibility, improve traffic and generate backlinks.
These are social signals that tell Google that your website content is awesome. These signals can indirectly improve your search rankings .
How social media supports SEO graphics
Source Life Marketing
Here are some social media SEO marketing points to consider on how social media affects SEO:
Publish useful material on social networks.
Useful materials can help you gain traction, increase the reach of your content, and generate backlinks.
Better data helps social media profiles rank higher in search results and gain traction (grow your following and generate traffic).
Quality helps grow your brand community.
It also improves the brand's reputation.
Links from networks can help Google with the indexing of articles/posts.
Indexing can lead to more search traffic and better rankings.
That’s why you need to start sharing content that connects with your audience because it helps boost social sharing. Plus, it makes it easier for others to share your posts, strengthening those signals.
Are social networks a ranking factor for Google?
I've skimmed over this topic in the previous sections, let's now take a closer look. Social media is NOT an SEO ranking element . The debate about the influence of social media on search engines has been going on for a long time.
However, as mentioned above, while many rightly conclude that social media does not directly affect SEO, it does correlate with the elements that influence rankings. Let’s consider the correlation between SEO and social media marketing.
How do social media connect to SEO? An example
Even though social media is not a ranking factor, it does have a relationship with search engine optimization. In the previous section I explained how social media and SEO correlate, through social signals.
These signals strengthen the factors that Google considers when ranking a website. You can accumulate these signals in bulk by sharing content on different social networks. The more useful content you share on social networks, the more likely your audience is to share it with their friends and followers.
As you continue to share, people can link to your articles. Collectively, the shared material can increase your blog content's visibility and SEO rankings. Google values quality links and considers them as part of the ranking factors.
The impact of a viral article on rankings
Matt Woodward published an article that went viral on social media . This is the result of the post that went viral on Facebook:
Users shared the content more than 31,500 times.
It generated more than 68,000 likes, and
Around 34,280 comments.
Image from article that went viral
Source image via Matthew Woodward
As a result, the article rose to #1 on Google for several keywords. And, the post reached #1 for keywords like “unhealthy foods.” All thanks to thousands of shares on social media.
Google search examples or rankings
Google search
The virality of the post also attracted more backlinks. Therefore, the thousands of shares, likes, backlinks and comments are valuable social signals that influence your SEO search rankings. Google uses these signals in favor of your site and can boost it in the rankings.
Check out Matt's findings and draw your own conclusions from the content analysis:
Matthew Woodworth comments on SEO and social
Source image via Matthew Woodworth
He noted that social media dramatically impacts SEO. In other words, social media and SEO have an important connection. But you have to create and publish quality content frequently.
What are the best social networks for SEO?
There are some sites that are more interesting for SEO. These sites are ideal for SEO and social media marketing because they appear in searches and rank higher in the results. Most consumers, if they want to connect with or buy from a brand, will first visit the company's social media profiles, not their websites.
Why? Because social media provides a more personal experience and response time is often shorter. Also, social media is more effective when itcomes to connecting with the ideal customer. As a result, consumers use different social platforms to gain insights about a company or organization or business goals and other vital issues.
Plus, most users search on the social sites they're hanging out on. And you get results in real time. As an example, I entered the search "freelance writer" on Twitter and here's the screenshot of my results.
Social Media SEO example
Twitter search
LinkedIn will also show you companies that are hiring and top articles on a topic.
So why did I get such great results on social media?
Because social networks have powerful search engines that allow them to function as if they were search engines.
The results reveal an outstanding consistency across social platforms. It shows that users are optimizing their posts and social profiles with the keywords they were targeting. If you are not using social media to improve SEO, it is never too late. You can start now!
That being said, what are the top social media sites for SEO? Below are my favorite sites for search engine optimization.
1. LinkedIn
The first reason marketers use social media is to generate leads. Even though leads may not be enough, LinkedIn does incredibly well as the number one social site for lead generation. It’s no surprise that LinkedIn is the favorite content marketing destination for 94% of B2B marketers. And nearly 90% of marketers use the platform for lead generation.
Linkedin graph showing lead conversion rate
Source graphic via LinkedIn
The professional network is the most important social platform for lead generation for B2B marketers. According to research, 62% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn.
That’s why using LinkedIn for SEO is perfect, because the site helps you appear in search results. By placing keywords naturally in your profile and strategically adding relevant search terms to your content, including headlines, LinkedIn’s search algorithm can propel you to the top of the SERPs.
2. Medium
Why should you publish content on Medium?
You should consider this option if not enough people from your target audience visit your blog or consume content. You can find them on Medium and other social sites. The platform allows users to post all types of content, including:
Personal stories
Republished articles
Pieces of original content
Rethinking content
Medium helps you reach a wider audience that you may not have considered if you were only focusing on your blog or website to get exposure. Several Medium articles rank at the top of search results even when it comes to competitive keywords with high search volume.
It's mainly due to the authority that the site has. So if you're struggling to rank your pages, take advantage of Medium's audience of nearly 154 million unique visitors per month and an average of 258 million visits per month according to the SEMrush Traffic Analytics tool.
SEMrush Medium.com Traffic Analysis
SEMrush tools also show that 58% of Medium’s traffic comes from organic search, while just over 26% is direct traffic, so you can see that their pages are ranking well in the SERPs.
Medium.com traffic sources SEMrush
Traffic Analysis Tool
Check out all the data it provides!
Get valuable data now →
ADS illustration
3. Facebook
Facebook is by far the largest social media platform in the world. According to SEMrush, the site ranks third globally behind Google and YouTube, and over the past 6 months, they have garnered over 20 billion visits per month, with May's figures at nearly 28 billion.
Facebook traffic
Facebook has made it easier for users to share content and post different materials. You can distribute links to your blog content or share your entire content for optimal traction. And the best part is that, as per a report, Google crawls and indexes Facebook links .
In 2007, Facebook allowed Google and other search engines to crawl some of its pages. Since then, the social media giant has unlocked more content for indexing, including comments.
This means that Google bots and other search engine crawlers can read the content of your pages. As a result, when users perform searches, those Facebook pages will appear in the SERPs, and you'll even see Facebook reviews in Google's knowledge boxes.
So, take advantage of this site to generate more web traffic and improve SEO.
4. Twitter
Just like Facebook, Twitter is also a fantastic social network for SEO. I mentioned earlier that social signals positively impact Google rankings. The more your content is shared on Twitter and other social networks, the more it could help your website rank in the SERPs.
Twitter allows you to share your posts to reach more people. To increase the traction of your Twitter posts, make sure you only share quality content that will engage users. Also, add relevant hashtags to increase visibility.
Hashtags help people find your tweets quickly, which in turn builds awareness for your brand and increases traffic. So if you're not using Twitter for SEO and content distribution, you're leaving money on the table.
Tweet your links frequently (but not in a spammy, repetitive manner) to attract users and drive traffic to your blog. The likes, shares, and comments you receive are powerful social signals, useful elements that Google uses to rank your site.
5. Pinterest
Pinterest is great for SEO and some marketers rely solely on Pinterest search traffic to grow their business. Although it is a social network, Pinterest also functions as a search engine.
Create compelling pin descriptions with the right keywords to improve your Pinterest SEO efforts. According to this survey :
Users perform 2 billion searches on the Internet every month.
Of all searches, 97% are non-branded, meaning Pinterest users are eager to engage with businesses they hadn't previously considered.
Every month, 600 million visual users visit the site.
73% of users visit Pinterest because it is entertaining and useful.
70% of consumers use the platform as a form of inspiration when making purchasing decisions, compared to 17% of Facebook users.
The numbers speak for themselves and clearly show why you should consider Pinterest SEO to improve your social media marketing strategy. Plus, Pinterest’s search function is one of the most used on the site. That’s why optimizing your profile and pins will help you get consistent traffic to your website.
6. Quora
Quora , as a social network, is a hidden gem for SEO . Why? Because people are always asking valuable questions about topics of interest. These searches have keywords that your audience is searching for on Google.
In other words, Quora users ask questions that align with the user's search intent. You ask questions on a given topic and get the answers you need in real-time. When you ask questions, users can direct participants to their blog or website by adding relevant links to the answers they provide.
Additionally, you can create content on Quora and drive qualified traffic to your website. Website interactions also show up in searches for specific keywords. So, with Quora, you can find useful information on any topic, including:
Business Tips
Tips related to everyday life
Useful information about content creation
Blog post ideas/content brainstorming
How to learn new topics
For example, data from SEMrush's Domain Overview reveals some incredible findings.
Quora Domain Overview
From the results, you can see that Quora's organic search traffic is nearly 67 million, with 27.6 million keywords ranking on Google over the past year.
Quora search traffic data by SEMrush
And when you look more closely at keywords by country, you realize that there are 27.6 million searches in the United States alone, and many more globally. So if you're using social media for SEO, doesn't it make sense to outrank a website with millions of monthly web searches and a massive monthly active user base? Yes, of course!
Other social networks where you can do SEO include:
Reddit
YouTube
GrowthHackers
Instagram
Using these social sites for SEO will significantly increase your search rankings. But you must make sure to optimize your profiles and content according to the guidelines of each platform.
7 Simple Social Media Best Practices for SEO That Will Increase Your Rankings
Contrary to popular belief, social media does have a connection to SEO, albeit not a direct one. That's why social media marketing professionals invest heavily in social media. But what are the best social media practices to improve your SEO marketing efforts?
Below, you'll learn seven practical social media tips on how to improve SEO with social media.
Any action you take to improve your social media efforts should align with your SEO goals. This way, you won't lose traffic anywhere. To be successful in using social media for SEO, you shouldn't ignore these social media and SEO integration tips.
1. Publish high-quality content
SEO has continued to evolve and search marketing isn’t what it used to be. Google bots and search engine algorithms have evolved to understand user intent and the relevance and quality of content.
These factors allow Google to serve users the most relevant content based on their searches. In other words, keyword stuffing is a thing of the past and quality of content is paramount . For this reason, make your blog content perform well on social media and SEO by creating well-researched and useful content a priority.
Quantity vs quality
Don't be in a rush to blog every other day. Instead, take your time to research material and create in-depth pieces that connect with your readers. One of the best ways to create quality content is to understand your ideal reader.
Put yourself in their shoes and understand their needs (and their pain points). Also, rework your old blog content – it’s a great way to build quality. Find your best-performing blog posts and add valuable data to increase social media engagement. This strategy can help you get more social signals that will improve your SEO.
Also, take a look at those posts that aren't performing so well and give them a facelift. Follow the same process as with the articles that are performing better. If the content isn't performing as well as it should, the best approach is to add valuable material using skyscraper techniques.
Skyscraper techniques
The skyscraper technique is a content creation strategy that transforms your articles into valuable linkable materials. The concept of the skyscraper content strategy is to make sure that your articles perform better and outperform your competitors.
These posts have more value to the reader and more keyword variations that rank in search engines. The content will have the ability to rank for different keyword terms. And because it has more value, it will attract more quality backlinks.
How the skyscraper technique works
First, you should apply these three fundamental steps:
Find a post that performs well in search with a considerable amount of backlinks
Create similar content, but make sure yours is even better than the original (in length, depth and timeliness)
Find marketers who have linked to the original article and reach out to them to link to the updated version.
If marketers found the original article useful and linked to it, they will be willing to link to your new content.
So get to work, and optimize your content using:
Relevant keywords
Appropriate visual material and
Make it more up-to-date than your competitors' content by adding more useful material
These components will help you improve your social media SEO.
Why is the skyscraper technique so important?
Brain Dean of Backlinko reveals the value of implementing the skyscraper content marketing strategy. After he applied this advice to his post “The 200 Google Ranking Factors,” his traffic doubled in just two weeks.
In addition, inbound links to the article increased significantly over the same time period.
referring domains graph
Source graphic via Backlinko
The benefits of skyscraper techniques
Some amazing benefits of skyscraper techniques include:
They produce useful content that adds value to your readers.
They increase blog engagement.
Increase participation in social networks.
They help get more comments.
You can add more quality backlinks.
Increase your brand recognition.
They boost brand reputation and authority.
Generating these types of articles requires hard work, but the results are worth the effort. So, put in the work and it will be worth it!
2. Make it easy for users to share your content
People use social media for many reasons. But for marketers, it's all about getting your brand message across to consumers. Reaching more people helps grow your brand awareness and generate leads.
But how can you get your message out there if followers can’t easily share it? This is where making content shareable comes into play. If you put all the vital elements in place, like social sharing buttons and compelling calls to action, readers will share your content.
Having these elements on your blog will encourage social sharing, which will increase your reach. Also, when you share on social media, using calls to action will help your followers re-share your posts.
As an example, SEMrush actively uses this strategy on social media. Take a look:
Here's another example for your inspiration:
Helping others share relevant or valuable content helps your message reach a wider audience and boosts brand awareness. Keep in mind that a call to action isn’t all you can do to make your content more shareable. Are you sure your content is share-worthy? Make it more engaging, more palatable, and of course, useful to your target market.
Create compelling headlines or captions.
Use attractive visual material.
Make sure your content is useful to your social audience.
Users will have no choice but to share your posts with friends and followers.
3. Optimize your social media profiles
Most potential clients will look at your social media profiles before reaching out to you; they need to have a clear idea of who you are and what you do. When you write a proposal or apply for a job, HR and hiring managers will often ask you to include your social profiles for the same reasons.
Additionally, some may also check out your profile page before contacting you. Some will also search for you on Google. So, ask yourself:
How attractive is my profile?
Does it have all the ingredients that will attract the right people?
When people search for my name, do I appear on Google?
One of the many factors that negatively affect social media SEO is a lack of profile optimization. This neglect is costing you money because it is preventing you or your brand from appearing in web searches.
A well-optimized profile allows your target market and potential consumers to find you online. However, you must have a consistent presence across all channels. It means that your social profiles must be aligned with your blog or website as well as your brand message. Therefore, your audience can quickly find you on different marketing platforms. Google loves it.
4. Optimize your images for SEO and social media
Visuals are an essential aspect of communication. There are amazing content marketing tools that help you develop your brand’s tone of voice. Plus, adding images to your blog and social media posts is the most effective way to convey information.
The human brain can process visual material faster, which is why more people respond quickly to visual content than text. Studies have found that our brains can process about 36,000 images 60,000 times faster than other types of content.
Furthermore, the brain can retain 80% of the images it processes, in contrast to only 20% of text content.
Therefore, to make the most of images, you need to optimize them to increase the popularity of your content on social media and in search results. If you optimize images correctly, they can play a vital role in improving your SEO campaign.
This is how you optimize your images for SEO
Before you include any images in your posts, you should maximize your content for Google by doing the following:
Use the appropriate file name for your image (relevant keywords separated by commas, not the name provided by a camera or image bank).
Choose the right image format, speed matters.
Make sure your images are responsive.
Reduce the file size to make it load faster.
Create engaging captions with keywords.
Add your keywords to the alt text and title of your images (don't overload them, the alt text should make sense to those using screen readers).
Include structured data in the image .
Also, for social media, image quality is key to increasing engagement on your posts. So, choose high-quality images and optimize them as well. Read this article to learn more about how to optimize your photos.
5. Build relationships through active conversations
One of the best ways to increase engagement on your social media accounts is to build relationships (brand-consumer partnerships). Relationships build trust and credibility. They also help you understand your target consumer, their needs, and the pain points they are trying to solve.
So, when they notice that you are interested in their problems, it becomes easier for them to connect with you. And the best place for this type of interaction is social media. You can interact with them through social groups, forums, and marketing profiles.
You don't have to wait for your ideal client to come to you. Take the initiative and start a conversation with your audience.
Ask relevant questions to find out how and what they think about your brand.
Ask what they think about your latest post.
Find questions that have been asked on the platform and provide helpful answers.
Respond to user comments.
Create a survey to understand what they would like to read in the future on your blog.
These are some ways to start conversations that will lead to positive results and build long-term relationships. These conversations are essential to improving your SEO because you offer information while also communicating your expertise in your industry.
As a result, you will increase your engagement, grow your followers and improve other social signals that Google uses to position your website.
6. Evaluate your social media marketing actions
Are you measuring your social media efforts? If you're not, you could be doing your business a disservice. The success of your marketing efforts relies heavily on quantifying your performance to understand how your efforts are working.
You need to know when your social media efforts are generating a positive ROI. Consider the following; over the past few months:
Are you making money from your social media activity?
Do you feel like you're wasting your time while on social media?
Can you identify what is working on social platforms?
What marketing tactics can you avoid and which ones can you improve?
You can't guarantee success if you're not measuring your marketing metrics. So, define your social media marketing goals and evaluate your actions accordingly. It will help you grow your networks and improve your SEO.
Furthermore, analyzing the results of your performance can help you make better marketing decisions, directing your efforts in the right direction. Accordingly, develop a social media strategy, set exit mobile database realistic goals and how you are going to measure them. It gives you guidance on how to use social media to improve your SEO.
7. Create attractive headlines for your social media posts
Regardless of the type of business or industry you're in, content plays a crucial role in your marketing strategy. And the best pieces of content are those that are centered around or created around a story.
Why is storytelling so essential and useful as a marketing tool?
In one of SEMrush's Twitter chats, experts explained why storytelling is so essential and why it should be part of your marketing strategy. Please check out the comments on the topic below.
In response to why storytelling is important for your business, Brian Fanzo said:
I believe the future of marketing is readability, especially in a digital world full of noise. And to be readable, you need to be authentic and connect. There's no better way to do that than by telling a story!
Stories make your audience FEEL! And to quote the great #MayaAngelou "At the end of the day, people won't remember what you did or said, they'll remember how you made them feel."
Estelle Van de Velde put it this way :
Because storytelling connects a brand with its audience, it is like a bridge that makes the customer feel emotionally attached to the brand.
You can read a summary of the talk in this article by Meliss Fach to learn:
The steps you should take when creating a storytelling for your marketing strategy,
Critical issues to address in your stories,
Available forms of storytelling for your business and
Sources of successful business storytelling.
Additionally, you need to invest in your post headlines to make them more engaging and connect with your users. Use story snippets to engage your target market and get them to click and share your posts among their tribe.
Also, since your goal is to improve SEO through social media, make sure to add your target keywords as well as related terms into your headlines. Depending on the social platform you choose, if there is a title section for your posts, include your keywords there as well.
Furthermore, use relevant hashtags when necessary and optimize your content for each of the social platforms. Also, use the active voice to strengthen your text. These actions will help improve your social media as well as your SEO.
Conclusion on SEO positioning techniques on social networks
At this point, I believe you have learned how to use social media for SEO. A sustainable social media strategy allows you to improve your SEO and rank higher in search results. While there are several ways to improve your SEO using social media best practices, the seven points above will allow you to apply them correctly.
Understanding these social media tips is essential, but implementing them into your social media content marketing is even more important. Want more? Keep evaluating your performance to find areas for improvement.
Do you have any more SEO social media marketing tips? We look forward to hearing from you below!
Traffic to eCommerce sites
Traffic growth remained constant during the pandemic months (March-June 2020), averaging 36% across all eCommerce categories. In addition to general retailers such as Amazon, Walmart and eBay, the three categories of Home & Garden, Food and Sports & Outdoors are the ones showing the most significant traffic growth during this time, with a year-over-year rate of between 40 and 50%.
Ecommerce categories with the highest traffic growth
eCommerce traffic sources
Increasing traffic is one thing, but understanding where it comes from is another if businesses want to see the benefits of attracting more visitors. Here’s what we’ve found regarding traffic sources during the pandemic:
Mobile traffic has accounted for approximately 70% of all visits to ecommerce sites. That’s why optimizing for mobile is essential if you want to increase conversions (check out our Ultimate Guide to eCommerce SEO for more tips on mobile optimization).
Around 60% of all ecommerce traffic is Direct, which indicates the role that brand recognition and consumer loyalty play for any online sales business.
Main sources of ecommerce traffic
eCommerce advertising trends: an opportunity amid the crisis?
Paid traffic is not the most important source of traffic in eCommerce, but to get customers and operate in a highly competitive environment, large e-retailers have always been interested in advertising online.
Online advertising spending in eCommerce: an overview
Globally, nearly 50% of all eCommerce advertisers across multiple categories spend up to $1,000 per month on Google Ads campaigns, so it's not necessarily an action reserved for those with larger budgets.
Monthly spending on ecommerce advertising
In the United States, 30% of ecommerce advertisers remain within the $1,000 monthly limit when it comes to their advertising spend.
Budgets tend to increase with competition in various industries. According to our data collected through our advertising toolkit , general and fashion retailers are the biggest spenders on advertising, with approximately 50% of the domains analyzed within these sectors spending over $150,000 per month.
Let's take a look at how the coronavirus pandemic has affected these spending levels:
Online advertising spending during the COVID-19 crisis
Budget cuts and widening gaps
From our data, it is clear that the coronavirus crisis has impacted global digital advertising spend.
Comparing year-over-year data for the pandemic months (March-June 2019 vs. 2020), we found that almost everyone, from small to large-scale advertisers, has reduced online advertising budgets by an average of 20%.
Initially, those spending more than $1 million a month on online ads were more reluctant to make significant cuts, but by June 2020, all advertisers had begun to show less confidence in digital ad spending.
Changes in online advertising June 2020
(Lost) opportunities
With advertising spending down, online advertising costs are also falling. Due to the pandemic, most eCommerce sectors have seen a drop in average cost per click (CPC), which could mean advertisers can get more for every dollar they spend.
This opportunity is not consistent across all eCommerce industries – you can find a more detailed overview of digital advertising spending during the COVID-19 crisis and a look at industry-specific data in our recent blog post .
Emotional triggers and CTAs in eCommerce ads
Finding the right emotional trigger to encourage users to click on an ad is often the difference between the success or failure of an advertising campaign.
Examples like “Free Shipping,” “Free Returns,” and “Shipping Available” are dominating the CTA landscape among ecommerce ads; our research showed that 32% of all ads emphasize free delivery. This messaging has become increasingly popular during coronavirus times as consumers increasingly shop online for items they never bought online before.
However, a one-size-fits-all approach to advertising is not enough for online campaigns, as each industry has its own peculiarities:
Health & Beauty and Home & Garden ads often highlight exclusive factors with CTAs like “limited edition”;
Message quality is very important for sectors such as Pets ("recommended by veterinarians") and Electronics ("[trusted] from", "authorized company"); and
Sports & Outdoors and Fashion ads frequently use CTAs focused on urgency and novelty, with favorites like “new arrivals,” “shop the latest,” and “new collection” present in 26% of ads analyzed in these industries.
Popular calls-to-action in ecommerce advertising messages
Consumer demand in ecommerce
Here, our research has found patterns in consumer demand and shows how they are changing as a result of recent events.
The most popular products in the different categories
Average monthly search volume data from H1 2019 to H1 2020 reveals some interesting changes.
Dr. Fauci’s calls to wash hands every two hours have had a big impact. Hand sanitizer was one of the top 5 most searched products in the Health sector this year, with average monthly searches in the first half of 2020 at 638,400 globally (up from 74,000 in the same period last year).
Interestingly, the rest of the top 5 Health products remain similar year-over-year, so this change is clearly related to the pandemic.
With more people working from home, searches for webcams (3,045,000 in H1 2020 vs. 1,000,000 in 2019) replaced searches for drones in our year-over-year analysis of the most searched products in the Consumer Electronics category.
Home & Garden also indicates some shifts in consumer interest in turning homes into workplaces, as searches for office chairs (1,254,000 vs. 417,200) outpaced those for mattresses.
Searches in other industries have remained more or less consistent between these two periods.
Most popular products in online shopping during the pandemic
Certain products experienced a significant spike in online searches during the pandemic. We analyzed the items that demonstrated the largest year-over-year growth in searches across all e-commerce categories during the peak of the coronavirus outbreak (March-April 2020 vs. the same period in 2019):
Hand hygiene
A surge in demand for hand sanitizers during the pandemic was to be expected, but the numbers are staggering: online searches for hand gel increased by 19,038%:
Products of interest due to the pandemic
Outdoor activities
With the vast majority of the population spending more time than usual at home, interior products gained more presence in the online shopping space.
Searches for lawn chairs and outdoor toys have nearly tripled and quadrupled respectively, while sporting goods such as men's running apparel (+164%) and yoga mats (+323%) have also increased.
Other products of interest due to the pandemic
A more detailed look at the changes in consumer demand during the pandemic can be found in our recent blog post .
Ecommerce companies: adapting to the new normal
Many businesses have been navigating the unknown in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, as consumers and the broader market have shifted to a new reality of online shopping behaviors.
Next, we’ll look at what e-commerce businesses can do to make data-driven marketing decisions as they strive to stay ahead in a reshaped market landscape.
Main eCommerce platforms
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses that previously did not sell online or had a limited presence turned to platforms that provide quick solutions to create online stores.
Graphic showing traffic trends related to ecommerce platforms in 2020
In March 2020, Shopify saw over 7.3 million visits compared to the previous month. Shopify's overall traffic in Q1 2020 increased globally by 29% year-over-year, and searches for "Shopify free trial" grew by 89% during the month.
Creating an online store is only part of the challenge. Ensuring that it attracts qualified traffic, converts visitors into customers, and competes with the competition is critical to its success.
An action plan for eCommerce companies
Let's take a look at the landscape of the most important eCommerce stores in Spain , where some physical stores were affected. SEMrush has identified some key areas that new entrants in the eCommerce race should consider:
Increase traffic volume: Getting enough traffic volume is essential at times when customers are short on time, motivated by deals, and increasingly inclined to research items online before making a purchase;
Branded Search Optimization: Increasing brand awareness and targeting brand search can help you compete against big players; and
Targeting paid traffic: Allocating budgets to Google Ads and launching effective advertising campaigns can build brand awareness and attract website visitors who will then spend online or offline.
By analyzing the largest eCommerce companies in Spain, we have deduced three steps that both newly established and older eCommerce brands should take into account to avoid the collapse of their business:
#1. Analyze your competitors' strategies and traffic
Checking out your competitors' strategies is the first essential step in building and improving any brand's online presence.
SEMrush's Competitive Ranking Map in the Domain Overview report can provide a quick overview of your competitors' organic traffic percentage relative to the number of keywords they rank for:
Competitive Positioning Map overview of Australian retailers
Similarly, the competitor report in the advertising research tool can estimate how many keywords competitors are buying and how much they are spending on online ads:
Advertising Research tool screenshot
Pro Tip: SEMrush’s CI plugin can provide insights into the entire market segment by showing how brands stack up against each other in terms of audience size and traffic growth rate.
Growth Quadrant screenshot showing Australian retailers
#2. Identify where your competitors are winning
After identifying your strongest competitors, you can dig deeper into their actual strategies with SEMrush.
The Keyword Gap tool can reveal which brand has a stronger organic presence by evaluating exactly which organic keywords are and are not ranking in search results.
Keyword Gap tool screenshot
This can help eCommerce businesses identify opportunities to target new keywords that they may have previously neglected and, as a result, improve their organic performance.
A similar logic can be applied to paid search. The Keyword Gap tool also shows which keywords competing brands are bidding on, so by comparing these to search volumes and defining which “new” keywords to target in advertising campaigns, businesses can gain some traffic from other competing brands.
Keyword Gap tool screenshot showing list of keywords
Pro tip: Bidding on competitor branded keywords is allowed as long as their brand name is not mentioned, so this could be a great opportunity to get their customers' attention.
#3. Create attention-grabbing, resonant content
Newly discovered keywords from the previous step should be integrated into titles, product descriptions and body text in all relevant content to attract both search engines and users.
The Topic Research tool can be a great help in gathering content ideas that are attention-grabbing and optimized for both, from suggestions for the most popular questions to headline ideas to keep topics on hand.
Topic Research tool screenshot
When it comes to writing copy for paid search, it's also possible to research your competitors' past campaigns to gain insight into new ads.
SEMrush's Advertising Research tool provides a report on past Ad Texts and the time period in which they were published, which can be an indicator of their effectiveness.
Ad Copies report screenshot
Digital marketing in the post-COVID-19 world
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only accelerated some of the trends we were previously seeing in digital marketing, but it has also brought about some unexpected changes.
SEMrush research has revealed that changes have happened so quickly that many businesses have failed to adapt to the “new normal,” as is the case with the recent drama of Australian retailers. No brick-and-mortar business can afford to remain offline if its competitors are gaining ground in the online market.
Breaking into e-commerce and developing the kind of online visibility needed to succeed is no easy task, but there is no longer a choice in a competitive landscape that has undoubtedly changed forever.
With a solid SEO, PPC, and content strategy based on data and key lessons learned from industry leaders, businesses can prepare to not only stay afloat, but also become more resilient to any changes that come their way.Are you looking for ways to use social media to improve your content marketing strategy, SEO, and Google rankings ? Do you want to boost your SEO campaign using social media? We'll answer these questions in this article with practical social media tips for SEO marketing.
Improving your SEO strategy is vital because it increases your search visibility and rankings on Google. But fierce competition makes appearing in search results a challenge, especially as more content is published every day.
WorldOMeter data shows that marketing professionals publish nearly five million articles a day.
<a href="https://www.worldometers.info/">Statistics of global blogs posts published daily</a>
Graphic source via WorldOMeter
With this volume of content published and distributed every day, your chances of appearing in search engines are slim. But you can improve your chances with the right content strategy.
In this guide we will review important issues and offer you some valuable tips:
How do social media impact SEO?
Are social networks a ranking factor for Google?
How do social media connect to SEO?
What are the best social media sites for SEO?
7 Social Media Best Practices for SEO That Increase Your Rankings
How do social media impact SEO?
Social media doesn't directly contribute to SEO rankings, but the links you share on it increase your brand's exposure. They add to and influence search engine optimization in six ways:
Extend the distribution of content
Extend the useful life of your items
Improve online visibility and organic traffic
Increase brand recognition
Improve brand reputation
Local search engine optimization (SEO) is on the rise
The number of times you share content on social media does not affect your SEO rankings. However, when many people share your content on social media, it generates social signals indicating that your posts are useful to your target market.
Research conducted by CognitiveSEO yielded some exciting findings. After analyzing 23 million posts shared on selected platforms, they discovered a direct relationship between social media relevance and SEO. The shares, likes, and comments your posts receive are vital signals that Google and other search engines work with to rank your website.
Chart showing social presence and rankings
Source graphic via CongnitiveSEO
However, while links are useful, Google does not count them as if they were a link from an authority site. Despite this, you will agree that the pages that rank highest in search results are often the ones with the most social shares.
When describing how social media impacts SEO, Life Marketing highlights that it does not have a direct influence. But it does have an indirect positive effect on search rankings.
Mentions on social networks and positioning
At Pubcon Pro 2017, Google’s Gary Illyes had a keynote discussion with SEO Eric Enge . Gary outlined how Google could use online mentions of a brand.
The online context in which your brand participates and how people talk about you online can impact your positioning at this time.
— Gary Illyes
As you can see, social media success can influence your SEO. It’s clear that Google is looking for the right metrics, not just vanity ones, and so should you.
More on how social media supports SEO
Why is social media important for SEO? Since social media indirectly influences the factors that impact search rankings, it is important because it has the potential to drive quality web traffic to your blog.
When you create and publish quality material that connects with your target readers, they become ambassadors. Why? Because you offer them something of value. It means that your audience will read and share the articles with their friends and followers.
Their followers will do the same and the circle continues. Keep in mind that writing/creating content is a fantastic way to attract more eyes to your site. Content can be presented in any format as long as it connects with your audience. Some types of content that drive traffic and get the most shares on social media are:
Blog posts
Videos
Infographics
Podcast
These materials offer your target audience useful information that keeps them coming back and ultimately generates leads. It's content marketing, sharing valuable data that helps readers. But you won't have a significant impact if you don't distribute it properly.
This is where social media comes into play. So when you share your posts, your audience amplifies your content by sharing it further. In this way, you increase your visibility, improve traffic and generate backlinks.
These are social signals that tell Google that your website content is awesome. These signals can indirectly improve your search rankings .
How social media supports SEO graphics
Source Life Marketing
Here are some social media SEO marketing points to consider on how social media affects SEO:
Publish useful material on social networks.
Useful materials can help you gain traction, increase the reach of your content, and generate backlinks.
Better data helps social media profiles rank higher in search results and gain traction (grow your following and generate traffic).
Quality helps grow your brand community.
It also improves the brand's reputation.
Links from networks can help Google with the indexing of articles/posts.
Indexing can lead to more search traffic and better rankings.
That’s why you need to start sharing content that connects with your audience because it helps boost social sharing. Plus, it makes it easier for others to share your posts, strengthening those signals.
Are social networks a ranking factor for Google?
I've skimmed over this topic in the previous sections, let's now take a closer look. Social media is NOT an SEO ranking element . The debate about the influence of social media on search engines has been going on for a long time.
However, as mentioned above, while many rightly conclude that social media does not directly affect SEO, it does correlate with the elements that influence rankings. Let’s consider the correlation between SEO and social media marketing.
How do social media connect to SEO? An example
Even though social media is not a ranking factor, it does have a relationship with search engine optimization. In the previous section I explained how social media and SEO correlate, through social signals.
These signals strengthen the factors that Google considers when ranking a website. You can accumulate these signals in bulk by sharing content on different social networks. The more useful content you share on social networks, the more likely your audience is to share it with their friends and followers.
As you continue to share, people can link to your articles. Collectively, the shared material can increase your blog content's visibility and SEO rankings. Google values quality links and considers them as part of the ranking factors.
The impact of a viral article on rankings
Matt Woodward published an article that went viral on social media . This is the result of the post that went viral on Facebook:
Users shared the content more than 31,500 times.
It generated more than 68,000 likes, and
Around 34,280 comments.
Image from article that went viral
Source image via Matthew Woodward
As a result, the article rose to #1 on Google for several keywords. And, the post reached #1 for keywords like “unhealthy foods.” All thanks to thousands of shares on social media.
Google search examples or rankings
Google search
The virality of the post also attracted more backlinks. Therefore, the thousands of shares, likes, backlinks and comments are valuable social signals that influence your SEO search rankings. Google uses these signals in favor of your site and can boost it in the rankings.
Check out Matt's findings and draw your own conclusions from the content analysis:
Matthew Woodworth comments on SEO and social
Source image via Matthew Woodworth
He noted that social media dramatically impacts SEO. In other words, social media and SEO have an important connection. But you have to create and publish quality content frequently.
What are the best social networks for SEO?
There are some sites that are more interesting for SEO. These sites are ideal for SEO and social media marketing because they appear in searches and rank higher in the results. Most consumers, if they want to connect with or buy from a brand, will first visit the company's social media profiles, not their websites.
Why? Because social media provides a more personal experience and response time is often shorter. Also, social media is more effective when itcomes to connecting with the ideal customer. As a result, consumers use different social platforms to gain insights about a company or organization or business goals and other vital issues.
Plus, most users search on the social sites they're hanging out on. And you get results in real time. As an example, I entered the search "freelance writer" on Twitter and here's the screenshot of my results.
Social Media SEO example
Twitter search
LinkedIn will also show you companies that are hiring and top articles on a topic.
So why did I get such great results on social media?
Because social networks have powerful search engines that allow them to function as if they were search engines.
The results reveal an outstanding consistency across social platforms. It shows that users are optimizing their posts and social profiles with the keywords they were targeting. If you are not using social media to improve SEO, it is never too late. You can start now!
That being said, what are the top social media sites for SEO? Below are my favorite sites for search engine optimization.
1. LinkedIn
The first reason marketers use social media is to generate leads. Even though leads may not be enough, LinkedIn does incredibly well as the number one social site for lead generation. It’s no surprise that LinkedIn is the favorite content marketing destination for 94% of B2B marketers. And nearly 90% of marketers use the platform for lead generation.
Linkedin graph showing lead conversion rate
Source graphic via LinkedIn
The professional network is the most important social platform for lead generation for B2B marketers. According to research, 62% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn.
That’s why using LinkedIn for SEO is perfect, because the site helps you appear in search results. By placing keywords naturally in your profile and strategically adding relevant search terms to your content, including headlines, LinkedIn’s search algorithm can propel you to the top of the SERPs.
2. Medium
Why should you publish content on Medium?
You should consider this option if not enough people from your target audience visit your blog or consume content. You can find them on Medium and other social sites. The platform allows users to post all types of content, including:
Personal stories
Republished articles
Pieces of original content
Rethinking content
Medium helps you reach a wider audience that you may not have considered if you were only focusing on your blog or website to get exposure. Several Medium articles rank at the top of search results even when it comes to competitive keywords with high search volume.
It's mainly due to the authority that the site has. So if you're struggling to rank your pages, take advantage of Medium's audience of nearly 154 million unique visitors per month and an average of 258 million visits per month according to the SEMrush Traffic Analytics tool.
SEMrush Medium.com Traffic Analysis
SEMrush tools also show that 58% of Medium’s traffic comes from organic search, while just over 26% is direct traffic, so you can see that their pages are ranking well in the SERPs.
Medium.com traffic sources SEMrush
Traffic Analysis Tool
Check out all the data it provides!
Get valuable data now →
ADS illustration
3. Facebook
Facebook is by far the largest social media platform in the world. According to SEMrush, the site ranks third globally behind Google and YouTube, and over the past 6 months, they have garnered over 20 billion visits per month, with May's figures at nearly 28 billion.
Facebook traffic
Facebook has made it easier for users to share content and post different materials. You can distribute links to your blog content or share your entire content for optimal traction. And the best part is that, as per a report, Google crawls and indexes Facebook links .
In 2007, Facebook allowed Google and other search engines to crawl some of its pages. Since then, the social media giant has unlocked more content for indexing, including comments.
This means that Google bots and other search engine crawlers can read the content of your pages. As a result, when users perform searches, those Facebook pages will appear in the SERPs, and you'll even see Facebook reviews in Google's knowledge boxes.
So, take advantage of this site to generate more web traffic and improve SEO.
4. Twitter
Just like Facebook, Twitter is also a fantastic social network for SEO. I mentioned earlier that social signals positively impact Google rankings. The more your content is shared on Twitter and other social networks, the more it could help your website rank in the SERPs.
Twitter allows you to share your posts to reach more people. To increase the traction of your Twitter posts, make sure you only share quality content that will engage users. Also, add relevant hashtags to increase visibility.
Hashtags help people find your tweets quickly, which in turn builds awareness for your brand and increases traffic. So if you're not using Twitter for SEO and content distribution, you're leaving money on the table.
Tweet your links frequently (but not in a spammy, repetitive manner) to attract users and drive traffic to your blog. The likes, shares, and comments you receive are powerful social signals, useful elements that Google uses to rank your site.
5. Pinterest
Pinterest is great for SEO and some marketers rely solely on Pinterest search traffic to grow their business. Although it is a social network, Pinterest also functions as a search engine.
Create compelling pin descriptions with the right keywords to improve your Pinterest SEO efforts. According to this survey :
Users perform 2 billion searches on the Internet every month.
Of all searches, 97% are non-branded, meaning Pinterest users are eager to engage with businesses they hadn't previously considered.
Every month, 600 million visual users visit the site.
73% of users visit Pinterest because it is entertaining and useful.
70% of consumers use the platform as a form of inspiration when making purchasing decisions, compared to 17% of Facebook users.
The numbers speak for themselves and clearly show why you should consider Pinterest SEO to improve your social media marketing strategy. Plus, Pinterest’s search function is one of the most used on the site. That’s why optimizing your profile and pins will help you get consistent traffic to your website.
6. Quora
Quora , as a social network, is a hidden gem for SEO . Why? Because people are always asking valuable questions about topics of interest. These searches have keywords that your audience is searching for on Google.
In other words, Quora users ask questions that align with the user's search intent. You ask questions on a given topic and get the answers you need in real-time. When you ask questions, users can direct participants to their blog or website by adding relevant links to the answers they provide.
Additionally, you can create content on Quora and drive qualified traffic to your website. Website interactions also show up in searches for specific keywords. So, with Quora, you can find useful information on any topic, including:
Business Tips
Tips related to everyday life
Useful information about content creation
Blog post ideas/content brainstorming
How to learn new topics
For example, data from SEMrush's Domain Overview reveals some incredible findings.
Quora Domain Overview
From the results, you can see that Quora's organic search traffic is nearly 67 million, with 27.6 million keywords ranking on Google over the past year.
Quora search traffic data by SEMrush
And when you look more closely at keywords by country, you realize that there are 27.6 million searches in the United States alone, and many more globally. So if you're using social media for SEO, doesn't it make sense to outrank a website with millions of monthly web searches and a massive monthly active user base? Yes, of course!
Other social networks where you can do SEO include:
YouTube
GrowthHackers
Using these social sites for SEO will significantly increase your search rankings. But you must make sure to optimize your profiles and content according to the guidelines of each platform.
7 Simple Social Media Best Practices for SEO That Will Increase Your Rankings
Contrary to popular belief, social media does have a connection to SEO, albeit not a direct one. That's why social media marketing professionals invest heavily in social media. But what are the best social media practices to improve your SEO marketing efforts?
Below, you'll learn seven practical social media tips on how to improve SEO with social media.
Any action you take to improve your social media efforts should align with your SEO goals. This way, you won't lose traffic anywhere. To be successful in using social media for SEO, you shouldn't ignore these social media and SEO integration tips.
1. Publish high-quality content
SEO has continued to evolve and search marketing isn’t what it used to be. Google bots and search engine algorithms have evolved to understand user intent and the relevance and quality of content.
These factors allow Google to serve users the most relevant content based on their searches. In other words, keyword stuffing is a thing of the past and quality of content is paramount . For this reason, make your blog content perform well on social media and SEO by creating well-researched and useful content a priority.
Quantity vs quality
Don't be in a rush to blog every other day. Instead, take your time to research material and create in-depth pieces that connect with your readers. One of the best ways to create quality content is to understand your ideal reader.
Put yourself in their shoes and understand their needs (and their pain points). Also, rework your old blog content – it’s a great way to build quality. Find your best-performing blog posts and add valuable data to increase social media engagement. This strategy can help you get more social signals that will improve your SEO.
Also, take a look at those posts that aren't performing so well and give them a facelift. Follow the same process as with the articles that are performing better. If the content isn't performing as well as it should, the best approach is to add valuable material using skyscraper techniques.
Skyscraper techniques
The skyscraper technique is a content creation strategy that transforms your articles into valuable linkable materials. The concept of the skyscraper content strategy is to make sure that your articles perform better and outperform your competitors.
These posts have more value to the reader and more keyword variations that rank in search engines. The content will have the ability to rank for different keyword terms. And because it has more value, it will attract more quality backlinks.
How the skyscraper technique works
First, you should apply these three fundamental steps:
Find a post that performs well in search with a considerable amount of backlinks
Create similar content, but make sure yours is even better than the original (in length, depth and timeliness)
Find marketers who have linked to the original article and reach out to them to link to the updated version.
If marketers found the original article useful and linked to it, they will be willing to link to your new content.
So get to work, and optimize your content using:
Relevant keywords
Appropriate visual material and
Make it more up-to-date than your competitors' content by adding more useful material
These components will help you improve your social media SEO.
Why is the skyscraper technique so important?
Brain Dean of Backlinko reveals the value of implementing the skyscraper content marketing strategy. After he applied this advice to his post “The 200 Google Ranking Factors,” his traffic doubled in just two weeks.
In addition, inbound links to the article increased significantly over the same time period.
referring domains graph
Source graphic via Backlinko
The benefits of skyscraper techniques
Some amazing benefits of skyscraper techniques include:
They produce useful content that adds value to your readers.
They increase blog engagement.
Increase participation in social networks.
They help get more comments.
You can add more quality backlinks.
Increase your brand recognition.
They boost brand reputation and authority.
Generating these types of articles requires hard work, but the results are worth the effort. So, put in the work and it will be worth it!
2. Make it easy for users to share your content
People use social media for many reasons. But for marketers, it's all about getting your brand message across to consumers. Reaching more people helps grow your brand awareness and generate leads.
But how can you get your message out there if followers can’t easily share it? This is where making content shareable comes into play. If you put all the vital elements in place, like social sharing buttons and compelling calls to action, readers will share your content.
Having these elements on your blog will encourage social sharing, which will increase your reach. Also, when you share on social media, using calls to action will help your followers re-share your posts.
As an example, SEMrush actively uses this strategy on social media. Take a look:
Here's another example for your inspiration:
Helping others share relevant or valuable content helps your message reach a wider audience and boosts brand awareness. Keep in mind that a call to action isn’t all you can do to make your content more shareable. Are you sure your content is share-worthy? Make it more engaging, more palatable, and of course, useful to your target market.
Create compelling headlines or captions.
Use attractive visual material.
Make sure your content is useful to your social audience.
Users will have no choice but to share your posts with friends and followers.
3. Optimize your social media profiles
Most potential clients will look at your social media profiles before reaching out to you; they need to have a clear idea of who you are and what you do. When you write a proposal or apply for a job, HR and hiring managers will often ask you to include your social profiles for the same reasons.
Additionally, some may also check out your profile page before contacting you. Some will also search for you on Google. So, ask yourself:
How attractive is my profile?
Does it have all the ingredients that will attract the right people?
When people search for my name, do I appear on Google?
One of the many factors that negatively affect social media SEO is a lack of profile optimization. This neglect is costing you money because it is preventing you or your brand from appearing in web searches.
A well-optimized profile allows your target market and potential consumers to find you online. However, you must have a consistent presence across all channels. It means that your social profiles must be aligned with your blog or website as well as your brand message. Therefore, your audience can quickly find you on different marketing platforms. Google loves it.
4. Optimize your images for SEO and social media
Visuals are an essential aspect of communication. There are amazing content marketing tools that help you develop your brand’s tone of voice. Plus, adding images to your blog and social media posts is the most effective way to convey information.
The human brain can process visual material faster, which is why more people respond quickly to visual content than text. Studies have found that our brains can process about 36,000 images 60,000 times faster than other types of content.
Furthermore, the brain can retain 80% of the images it processes, in contrast to only 20% of text content.
Therefore, to make the most of images, you need to optimize them to increase the popularity of your content on social media and in search results. If you optimize images correctly, they can play a vital role in improving your SEO campaign.
This is how you optimize your images for SEO
Before you include any images in your posts, you should maximize your content for Google by doing the following:
Use the appropriate file name for your image (relevant keywords separated by commas, not the name provided by a camera or image bank).
Choose the right image format, speed matters.
Make sure your images are responsive.
Reduce the file size to make it load faster.
Create engaging captions with keywords.
Add your keywords to the alt text and title of your images (don't overload them, the alt text should make sense to those using screen readers).
Include structured data in the image .
Also, for social media, image quality is key to increasing engagement on your posts. So, choose high-quality images and optimize them as well. Read this article to learn more about how to optimize your photos.
5. Build relationships through active conversations
One of the best ways to increase engagement on your social media accounts is to build relationships (brand-consumer partnerships). Relationships build trust and credibility. They also help you understand your target consumer, their needs, and the pain points they are trying to solve.
So, when they notice that you are interested in their problems, it becomes easier for them to connect with you. And the best place for this type of interaction is social media. You can interact with them through social groups, forums, and marketing profiles.
You don't have to wait for your ideal client to come to you. Take the initiative and start a conversation with your audience.
Ask relevant questions to find out how and what they think about your brand.
Ask what they think about your latest post.
Find questions that have been asked on the platform and provide helpful answers.
Respond to user comments.
Create a survey to understand what they would like to read in the future on your blog.
These are some ways to start conversations that will lead to positive results and build long-term relationships. These conversations are essential to improving your SEO because you offer information while also communicating your expertise in your industry.
As a result, you will increase your engagement, grow your followers and improve other social signals that Google uses to position your website.
6. Evaluate your social media marketing actions
Are you measuring your social media efforts? If you're not, you could be doing your business a disservice. The success of your marketing efforts relies heavily on quantifying your performance to understand how your efforts are working.
You need to know when your social media efforts are generating a positive ROI. Consider the following; over the past few months:
Are you making money from your social media activity?
Do you feel like you're wasting your time while on social media?
Can you identify what is working on social platforms?
What marketing tactics can you avoid and which ones can you improve?
You can't guarantee success if you're not measuring your marketing metrics. So, define your social media marketing goals and evaluate your actions accordingly. It will help you grow your networks and improve your SEO.
Furthermore, analyzing the results of your performance can help you make better marketing decisions, directing your efforts in the right direction. Accordingly, develop a social media strategy, set exit mobile database realistic goals and how you are going to measure them. It gives you guidance on how to use social media to improve your SEO.
7. Create attractive headlines for your social media posts
Regardless of the type of business or industry you're in, content plays a crucial role in your marketing strategy. And the best pieces of content are those that are centered around or created around a story.
Why is storytelling so essential and useful as a marketing tool?
In one of SEMrush's Twitter chats, experts explained why storytelling is so essential and why it should be part of your marketing strategy. Please check out the comments on the topic below.
In response to why storytelling is important for your business, Brian Fanzo said:
I believe the future of marketing is readability, especially in a digital world full of noise. And to be readable, you need to be authentic and connect. There's no better way to do that than by telling a story!
Stories make your audience FEEL! And to quote the great #MayaAngelou "At the end of the day, people won't remember what you did or said, they'll remember how you made them feel."
Estelle Van de Velde put it this way :
Because storytelling connects a brand with its audience, it is like a bridge that makes the customer feel emotionally attached to the brand.
You can read a summary of the talk in this article by Meliss Fach to learn:
The steps you should take when creating a storytelling for your marketing strategy,
Critical issues to address in your stories,
Available forms of storytelling for your business and
Sources of successful business storytelling.
Additionally, you need to invest in your post headlines to make them more engaging and connect with your users. Use story snippets to engage your target market and get them to click and share your posts among their tribe.
Also, since your goal is to improve SEO through social media, make sure to add your target keywords as well as related terms into your headlines. Depending on the social platform you choose, if there is a title section for your posts, include your keywords there as well.
Furthermore, use relevant hashtags when necessary and optimize your content for each of the social platforms. Also, use the active voice to strengthen your text. These actions will help improve your social media as well as your SEO.
Conclusion on SEO positioning techniques on social networks
At this point, I believe you have learned how to use social media for SEO. A sustainable social media strategy allows you to improve your SEO and rank higher in search results. While there are several ways to improve your SEO using social media best practices, the seven points above will allow you to apply them correctly.
Understanding these social media tips is essential, but implementing them into your social media content marketing is even more important. Want more? Keep evaluating your performance to find areas for improvement.
Do you have any more SEO social media marketing tips? We look forward to hearing from you below!