Is There a Correlation between Social Media and Ranking in Google?

Social media has taken over the Internet and has had a major impact on Google rankings. The reason for this is that people frequently use social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to share a specific website with family and friends. The number of social media sites available on the Internet has rapidly increased over the years. This means that advertisers have had to change the way they market their products and services to the public.

A report filed in 2011 by SEOMoz, called the “2011 Search Engine Ranking Factors,” reported a direct relationship between the number of times members share a company’s Facebook page and their ranking on Google. Experts concluded that there is no real way to prove that Facebook shares have an impact on the rankings of a particular website in any search engine. The argument has been made that the relationship between Facebook shares and search engine rankings has more to do with the quality of the content members are sharing than the fact that they are sharing them on Facebook.

Before SEOMoz began their 2011 search engine report, they had theorized that Google relies on data taken from Facebook to determine the rankings of websites on Google. In December 2010 an interview was conducted with Google where the company stated that they use social media when they rank search results. Information taken from Facebook often shows up in a Google search.

Industry experts advise business owners to use social media to advertise their products and services. They state that social media is a great way for a company to engage their customers and interact with them in a way they will enjoy. While sharing items on Facebook may not lead to a direct rise in the ranking a particular company has on Google, they will help contribute to a business’s overall presence on the web. In turn, this can help a business rise to the top of a Google search.

Facebook and Twitter are two social media sites that have begun to make user data available to the public, as well as search engines such as Google. In an interview conducted by the website Search Engine Land, both Bing and Google stated that links users share via Twitter and Facebook impact search engine rankings. However, they declined to disclose the exact effect Facebook and Twitter have on Google rankings.

In February 2011, Google introduced several new features that personalize search results for each particular user, based on the information the user posted on their social networking pages. Users must link their Google profile to their pages on Facebook, Twitter, etc. in order for this to be possible.

The website Social Technology Review states that Facebook and Twitter users who engage other users are more likely to have their pages show up at the top of the search results for Google and other search engines. They concluded that links posted via social networking sites are being utilized by the major search engines more than they were in the past.

Social media continues to influence Google rankings more and more as users increase their participation on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The days of users having privacy on the Internet are quickly dying because of the impact social media has had on all search engine rankings.

My name is Nisha Sharma. I represent a site called CompareLogbookLoans.co.uk. I love to write, especially about travel, finance and offer business advice.