Social Signals

What are social signals?

Social signals refer to interactions a person, company or brand receives on social media. These include followers, likes, mentions, shares, comments, votes, and other forms of engagement that indicate social presence.

Google hasn’t officially confirmed social signals as a ranking factor, in fact both John Mueller and Garry Illyes have denied it:

And that's where social media comes handy. It's not because SEs will rank you better, that's BS, but because you market your content

— Gary 鯨理／경리 Illyes (so official, trust me) (@methode) September 20, 2017

“It’s not because SEs will rank you better, that’s BS” – Gary Illyes

However, there is evidence, and it’s widely believed, that social signals do play a role in search engines ranking your website better, and there are multiple reasons why.

Why are social signals a ranking metric?

There are many reasons that make logical sense why social signals would be a ranking metric, one of the biggest being E-E-A-T.

E-A-A-T

Social signals provide real-world validation of a brand’s credibility, expertise, and trustworthiness, which are all key aspects of E-E-A-T. When content is shared, commented on, and engaged with across social media, it signals to both users and search engines that the information holds value. Google prioritises content that demonstrates Experience, and social media is a space where individuals can share personal insights, case studies, and real-life applications of their knowledge.

Social media also provides a credible platform where an expert can demonstrate their Expertise by actively engaging with their audience. In fact, I’ve seen an Instagram account ranking on page one for a highly sought after transactional keyword in the dating industry. All this page had was an expert with high engagement.

In terms of Authority, when industry professionals, trusted organisations, or well-known figures share or reference content, it signals they are recognising thought leadership within their field.

And finally, verified social media profiles, authentic interactions, and positive customer sentiment can all contribute to a brand’s perceived reliability and act as a major Trust signal.

Googlebots crawl social media and follow links, so they will find user-generated content and discussions around you and your brand. All these mentions on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Reddit add layers of credibility and will help towards E-E-A-T score and your website ranking positions.

Bing admits it uses social signals

Bing has always been more transparent on its ranking metrics, and in a previous iteration of its Webmaster Guidelines, it said this.

Social media plays a role in today’s effort to rank well in search results. The most obvious part it plays is via influence. If you are influential socially, this leads to your followers sharing your information widely, which in turn results in Bing seeing these positive signals. These positive signals can have an impact on how you rank organically in the long run.

Bing WMT

Bing says that social media signals ‘have an impact on how you rank organically’, and it is logical to think this would also apply on Google.

Indirect ranking benefits of social signals

Even if social signals aren’t a ‘direct’ ranking metric, they have the potential to generate multiple offshoot ranking signals, for example:

Brand name searches

If people are seeing you or your brand on social media, they are more likely to conduct a Google search for your brand name. Again, whether brand name searches are a direct ranking factor is something Google is typically vague about, but many people in the SEO community thinks that it does. In fact, in 2009 there was an update related to brands called Vince.

With Google being so vague about ranking metrics, all we can go on is our own experimentation to see what works and what doesn’t, and apply logic and common sense. It’s logical that brand name searches would help ranking positions because high search demand for a brand is a huge trust signal. More branded search queries can potentially increase site authority, which can help all pages on the domain rank better.

Engagement signals

People coming to a website through social media tend to have higher engagement rates, and high engagement on a page can be a ranking metric in itself. This again isn’t proven and is also denied by Google, but it’s logical if their aim is to deliver high quality results, then pages with high engagement would signal that it’s valuable content, and should in theory lead to better rankings.

More brand awareness, more backlinks

One thing that Google doesn’t and can’t deny, is that backlinks are a direct ranking metric. Greater exposure on social media means there is a higher chance of more people seeing your content. This means there is a higher chance of it gaining links from other websites. Content that performs well on social media is more likely to be cited or linked to by bloggers, journalists, and industry websites. More backlinks from high-authority sites lead to higher domain authority and improved rankings.

Should you be concerned about social signals for SEO?

All this adds up to the fact that social signals should be taken seriously in SEO. When conducting competitor analysis, I always analyse social signals, and there have been cases where the only deciding factor between websites has been social signals.

So, I would say yes, you should take social media very seriously when looking at SEO, and aim to have the strongest social presence among your competitors. This means:

• Creating a social media account for your brand on all social platforms.
• Keeping your branding consistent across all social platforms
• Linking to your website as much as possible
• Keeping all accounts up to date, even if it’s just sharing content
• Focusing on at least one platform, with the aim of building a following

How much social media you need depends on your industry and the keywords you’re trying to rank for. For example, I did an SEO strategy breakdown of roofers in London, and only one of the websites I analysed had a social presence. This tells me, there is an opportunity for a competitor to gain a significant advantage if they apply social signals as a ranking metric.

Although Google does not confirm social signals as a direct ranking factor, the logical impact on SEO is undeniable. By having the potential to increase E-E-A-T, visibility, backlinks, engagement, branded searches, and domain authority, social media at the very least can indirectly impact Google ranking positions.

For the best SEO results, businesses should integrate social media marketing with their search strategy to maximise reach, credibility, and organic growth.