Social Signals: What Are They & How to Improve Them in 2024

Regardless of whether you’re a new marketer or a seasoned one, chances are that at some point in your career you’ll stumble upon social signals. But what are they, what’s their importance, and how can you increase them? Worry not, for, in this guide, we’ve provided answers to each of these questions.

What Are Social Signals?

In the simplest of terms, social signals refer to how popular a piece of content is on social media platforms. The more engagement it receives, the higher its social signal score will be. The human interaction and engagement with social media posts are referred to as social signals, and these include:

• Facebook likes comments and shares.
• Twitter likes retweets, quotes, and conversations.
• Pinterest pins, views, and comments.
• LinkedIn connections, links, and references.
• Instagram followers, comments, and regrams.
• YouTube views, thumbs up, and comments.

The more likes, shares, views, and clicks a post has, the greater its social media rankings are.

Why Are Social Signals Important?

Social signals are important for two main reasons:

1) They Help Increase Your Visibility Online

When you publish quality content, social media users will probably share it with their communities. By doing this, they increase your online visibility and your chances of reaching new audiences and having your post mentioned, re-shared, or talked about again and again.

2) They Tell Search Engines That Your Content Is Popular

Although social signals are not an official SEO ranking factor for search engines, they can boost your SEO efforts indirectly. What I mean by this is that, when a post is shared or talked about by a great number of people, search engines are more likely to consider it quality content—and quality content IS a ranking factor. 

Again, this can lead to even more traffic and exposure for your business.

Social Signals and SEO

Due to their importance in influencing SERP rankings, many marketers focus on increasing social signals as part of their SEO strategy. This may involve promoting content on social media, creating shareable content and optimizing it for search engines, or engaging with your target audience online.

In addition to monitoring social signal scores as part of performance marketing, there are a number of tools and platforms that can help you track and analyze your social media engagement and performance. Some popular options include Google Analytics, Hootsuite, Buffer, Buzzsumo, SimplyMeasured, Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, Bitly, and Curalate.

The Power of Social Media in SEO

While it’s generally believed that social media platforms have little to no impact on search engine rankings, this may not always be the case. A number of experiments and studies conducted over the years have shown that social signals can indeed influence how content appears in SERPs. For example, an experiment by Stone Temple Consulting revealed that increasing Facebook likes for a page by 10,000 resulted in a more than 2-point increase in that page’s search engine ranking position (SERP). Another study conducted by Moz and BuzzSumo found that the number of shares a piece of content receives strongly correlates with its Google rankings.

So, why should you care about social media signals? The answer is simple—because they can have an impact on your website’s traffic and search engine rankings.

How Can You Increase Your Social Signals?

There are a number of ways you can increase the social signals for your website or blog.

1) Use Social Sharing Buttons

Make it easy for your visitors to share your content by adding social sharing buttons to your website or blog. You can add these buttons to your posts, above and below the content, and at the end of articles.

2) Optimize Your Content for Social Media

To maximize the potential for social shares, focus on creating high-quality, engaging content relevant to your target audience. In addition, use images, infographics, and videos to make your content more visually appealing and shareable.

3) Use Social Media Platforms

Make sure to actively use social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to promote your content. When you post links to your articles or blog posts on social media, be sure to use engaging descriptions and hashtags to increase the reach and visibility of your content.

4) Engage with Followers and Influencers

Another effective way to increase social signals for your website or blog is to engage with individuals who are influential in your niche, as well as those who have expressed interest in your content. This can be done by one of these marketing signals: responding to comments on social media, joining relevant discussions, and sharing others’ content.

5) Leverage the Power of User-Generated Content

Encourage your fans and followers to create content about your brand, product, or service. This could include things like blog posts, reviews, testimonials, and social media posts. When you share this user-generated content on your own channels, be sure to tag the original creator to increase its reach.

By following these tips, you can increase your social signal score and improve your SERP chances. However, it’s important to keep in mind that social signals are just one of many factors that influence search engine and social media ranking. So, while important, they shouldn’t be your only focus.

Key Takeaways

Other Benefits of Social Signals

Additional benefits of this practice include:

• Helps Build Relationships

Social signals can help you build relationships with potential and current customers, as well as with other businesses in your industry. By engaging with others on social media, you can create a sense of community and foster positive relationships that can benefit your business in the long run.

• Helps Build Brand Awareness

Social signals can also help you build brand awareness for your business. When you share high-quality content on social media and people engage with it, your business will become more visible to a wider audience. The social signal metrics will show this can lead to an increase in website traffic and, ultimately, sales.

• Helps Drive Traffic to Your Website

Social signals can help drive traffic to your website from social media platforms. If people see engaging content relevant to their interests on social media, they’re more likely to click through to your website to learn more.

• Helps With Lead Generation

Social signals can also be useful for lead generation. By creating and sharing content that’s highly engaging and relevant to your target audience, you can capture the interest of potential customers and drive them to take action, and afterward, you can track your social signals. This could include signing up for a mailing list or requesting a demo of your product or service.

• Increases Visibility in Search Engine Rankings

Finally, social signals can contribute to improved search engine rankings. As mentioned above, social signals are just one of many factors that influence your ranking in SERPs, so you shouldn’t rely on them exclusively to get your website or blog noticed. However, they can help boost your visibility and improve your chances of being found online, which is the core of social media ranking.

• Increase in High-quality Backlinks

One of the most important benefits that social signals can provide is an increase in high-quality backlinks. When your content is shared on social media, it has the potential to be seen by thousands or even millions of people. For example, to increase your backlinks for your YouTube video, be sure to post it in as many places as you can, like your website, blog, or social media. The quantity of backlinks you have is important for both your YouTube SEO and Google SEO.

Conclusion

Marketing signals are a key part of online marketing and SEO, as they can have a significant impact on how content appears on search engine results pages. There are a number of ways to increase your social signal score, such as using social sharing buttons, optimizing your content for social media platforms, engaging with followers and influencers, and leveraging the power of user-generated content. Ultimately, while social signals are just one factor that influences SEO, they should be an important part of any online social media marketing strategy.