Twitter, Facebook, Others.- Google improvement?

[MrFewkes]

All,

Can I ask - does people tweeting about a site improve its google ranking? Also - does having a site mentioned "somewhere" in facebook accounts give a boost in google rankings?

I havent done any work on the social side of things with my main site - and I was wondering considering the dilema im in - is it worth looking into these aspects?


Cheers

[tedster]

I do know of cases where people claim a LOT of mentions on Facebook, for example, helped their Google rankings. But it's a very different effect than just making some kind of technical effort. Social Media marketing is a whole country, heck it's a whole continent! There is a lot of snake oil being pushed in Social Media right now, but there is also a lot of authentic marketing being done, too.

As I said, it takes a different mindset than pure technical SEO. It is all about finding your market and engaging them. It's not just pushing a message or generating links but rather really listening and responding. In other words it's about building your business by interacting with your customers. That conversation generates interest from more people, and more interest means more traffic.

Google does measure these things - the exact formula is not known. Measuring an exact ROI for your effort can be challenging. The tools for that are only now evolving.

There are many sources of information - you need to just wade into those waters and start learning. Do a search for [social media] on Twitter or Google, spot the strong information and add it to your feed. Study what some successful businesses are doing. Set up your first social channel, learn how it works, and go for it. And budget some regular serious time for it, too. This not just tweaking some title tags.

Some traditional SEOs have had an aversion to social media marketing, but not the general public. They love it. Those who run an online business and refuse social media are looking for a hands-off technical approach. Click the buttons and make money, you know? It's the same mind-set that generates spam. Social media marketing is more about human factors - it's, well, social, you know? But there's no doubt that success in social media marketing really helps Google ranking.

A decade ago, The Cluetrain Manifesto said "markets are conversations". In social media marketing, businesses are joining the conversation. Google knows this. Google measures this and reflects it. There's a reason they partnered with Twitter to get all the data those Tweets generate.

[networkliquidators]

Just remember that only go the social network route if you can make it work. Not every industry is intended to have a facebook page. I mean, just having a page is not enough, as you need the activity to go with it.