By G5
Social media has evolved massively over the past decade. Today, more than 70 percent of U.S. adults use social networking sites. Not surprisingly, search engines want to capitalize on the social signals produced when these millions of users participate in social networks.
The challenge for self-storage owners, operators and marketers is to learn how to optimize for those signals and integrate them into a search engine optimization (SEO) program. This type of program is called social SEO.
The following will introduce you to the basics of launching a social SEO program, which will result in increased traffic, leads customers and net operating income.
How Social SEO Works
The concept behind social SEO is that trust matters. This was presented in Google’s “Social Search” patent submitted one year before the launch of Google+. The patent states that search engines can use the relationship connections in a social network to better answer searchers’ queries, and that trust can be measured by intimacy.
Search engines want to leverage these relationships because it allows them to display personalized search results that are more useful to users, providing a better user experience.
Why Social SEO Matters
Social SEO is important because search has evolved. No longer are search results determined solely by how many keywords are on a page or how many links a site has. In fact, SEO tactics of the past can actually damage your search rankings.
Search engines are now relying on social signals—people talking about your content on their social profiles. Search results take into account multiple data points including:
- Who you are
- Where you are
- Who you know
- What you like
- Where you’ve been online
Bottom line: Search has changed. “Big Brother” is watching. Social SEO is a game changer as it can affect your visibility in search-engine rankings. Search engine’s desire to provide more personalized search results underscores the importance of adopting social SEO. The time has come to adjust SEO strategies to accommodate this change to ensure your self-storage facility is found online.
Making Social SEO Work for You
To optimize for social SEO, you should start to engage with online connections on a deeper level. This will send important social signals to search engines that will translate into earned trust, and help your content rank better in search results.
To gain an understanding of how each social interaction affects rankings, strive to answer the following questions:
- What platforms and networks are most important?
- How much of an impact will a single tweet, Like +1 or share have on rankings?
- How do we get our content shared by influential individuals?
- How do we measure the impact?
Google makes hundreds of algorithm changes each year. Staying on top of and reacting to these changes is a full-time job. Working with an SEO expert and following Google’s product blog to get actionable, up-to-date information on releases and announcements will be helpful in keeping you informed and at the top of the search-engine results page.
G5 is a provider of Digital Experience Management software and services for the self-storage industry. For more information, call 800.656.8183; visit http://getg5.com.