Many people ask the question, Is social media necessary to get good search engine rankings?
In my opinion, they are starting with the wrong question.I think the die has already been cast on the importance of social media and whether or not it should be an integral part of SEO. (It should.)
The real question is, Can SEO thrive without social media?
To that, I firmly believe the answer is No. Not today, and not for as long as social media continues to play a role in shaping society. Until the great EMP hits, I dont see social media losing its grip on how we live our lives. Which means, search engines will look for ways to incorporate certain social signals into their ranking algorithms. And rightly so. Social media, essentially, is the real-time pulse of what we like, dislike, love, and loath. It only makes sense that search engines want to measure this in order to make rankings more relevant for both the masses and each person individually.
The truth is, social media has truly changed the SEO landscape. There is no going back.
Historically, links were the primary off-page factor that search engines could consider when analyzing a sites importance, authority and popularity. Social media isthe new backlink.
In fact, the Russian search engine Yandex has recently taken links completely out of their algorithm in favor of other external signals. Matt Cutt from Google has made it known that they have also tested dropping backlinks from their algorithm. While he admitted that they were unable to maintain the high level of quality in those tests, it wouldnt surprise me if Google continues to devalue links over time until they are almost completely out of the picture.
Personally, I dont think Google will ever need to remove links completely, but relying on them less and finding alternate link value mechanisms is likely coming soon to a Google algorithm near you.
So as links get valued less, that means something has to be valued more. That something is, undoubtedly social media. Of course, social media ranking factors are about as broad as on page ranking factors. Just as there can be several dozens of on-page factors that search engines look at, there can also be several dozens of social factors that are included. And thats what makes social such a powerful addition to the mix of algorithm signals. There are a lot of different signals to tweak and adjust until a great balance is struck with the rest of the factors.
Read this article:
How Social Media Changed SEO And Why Your Business Cant Thrive Without It by @stoneyd