Traditional SEO vs Social Media SEO:

The way we (and our customers) search online has changed dramatically. While we may still “Google it” to get pricing information and to evaluate competitive products, chances are high (and getting higher) that we became aware of an interesting product some other way. For example:

• How many times have you been scrolling through your feed (almost any platform) and noticed a product that looked like it was something you needed to know more about. You click on the link and learn more about it. You may even purchase it directly on that platform without jumping out to Google or any other search engine. I’ve certainly done that.
• Or: You type in a question about something – “How do I …”, I need to know about …”, or “Where can I …”.

We are searching for things we are interested in – like we are in a conversation with the platform. We aren’t using one or two words in our search for something. That isn’t specific enough and returns too many unrelated results we need to sort through to find what we are looking for. Instead, we are using phrases and even complete sentences to search.

What Does This Mean For Traditional SEO?

As online business owners, we are keenly aware of the importance of search engine optimization (SEO) as it applies to our websites. I know I’ve spent hour upon hour working on getting it just right on my own website. I’m sure you have too. While that’s still incredibly important, it’s not the whole picture.

Social Media SEO

To increase our effectiveness, we need to take the SEO logic of key words and phrases we use on our websites even further – to our social media profiles, post captions and alt text for images.

In my research to improve my own Social Media SEO, I came across this Shopify article: Social Media SEO 101: Tips for Appearing in Search Results (link below). It’s a great place to start.

Key Takeaways From the Article:

[1] Optimize all social profiles for consistency. Every profile should be complete and optimized to reflect your brand, using key words and phrases that you have researched and that are connected to the same key words and phrased used on your website.

[2] Weave relevant keywords and phrases into post captions. Every post is a reflection of your brand and should use related keywords and phrases.

[3] Use strategic hashtags. While “stuffing” your captions with hashtags is no longer allowed on Instagram, you are still able to use a handful of hashtags that tie your post to your brand. Make good use of them and keep them related – on all platforms.

[4] Create quality, shareable content. Include several images that can each be used as social post images on multiple platforms.

[5] Optimize content per social media platform. Each social platform has its own image size specifications as well as number of words/characters available for captions. Some platforms (like Facebook) allow active links, while others (particularly Instagram) do not. Format the post content so that it appears correctly on each platform – using the keywords and phrases you are optimizing for.

[6] Optimize images with Alt Text. Every imaged shared can be searched – if you have optimized the image file name and alt text with appropriate key words related to the image and your business. If your images are name something like “img2351” and there is no Alt Text, search engines will skip right over it in favor of other posts/images.

Read the entire article: Social Media SEO 101: Tips for Appearing in Search Results