Social media marketing and SEO are two practices that can be integrated together in order to provide superior results. However, due to the lack of knowledge on how the two factors can impact each other, there are a large number of businesses that have simply not integrated the two together. They do not understand how social media marketing can help SEO, therefore avoiding the use of the two together - simply due to lack of knowledge. The simple fact of the matter is that social media is a critical part of your online presence and can highly impact your search engine rankings. Understanding the importance of social media for SEO is the first step, and the second is actually implementing a strategy that will enable you to use the two together for the good of your company. The following reasons will show you the why and how of social media and SEO.

Links: Google's answer to social proof

Have you ever considered the reason that Google began allowing websites to use links to determine which one ranked above all the others? The answer to this quandary is fairly simple; links were the same as website votes. The more votes that you received the better ranking you received. This is when SEO companies of the past (and many still today) began to build their own links, or votes, manually. Google was not pleased. In order to counteract this fake vote acquisition Google decided that some of the votes would count more than others. Then Some companies would manufacture websites that received the best votes. Google finally came to the realization that link building would not be effective for the ranking of websites. This is when Google began to penalize sites that utilized fake votes. While ranking is a great concept, it is not effective. Now Google has turned to social media for website ranking, which is a much harder platform to manipulate.

Multiplying your online presence is easy when you are social

The biggest problem that the old methods of SEO had was the fact that link building was simply creating a sign directing people to your website, but they were placed where nobody was looking. A good example of this would be placing a billboard for your business in the middle of the ocean - it simply will not reach anyone. Social media provides you with a world of activity and interaction where things are constantly going on and happening, all in real time. This is why you must establish a social media presence, not just create social media accounts where you never post anything. It is clear that this is the quickest way to multiply your presence because this is where people already are.

A social link will drive real traffic to your actual site

A social link offers you the real ability to bring qualified leads to your site and encourages them to follow you on social sites. This means that there is a much higher likelihood of these people turning into a customer than the original link building strategies. So what does this all mean? Link building is a big no-no in Google land and if you want to rank it is a strategy that you should distance yourself from. Instead focus on social media for your SEO strategy and see real results in search engines and in sales. When you are ready to make your own move, contact the pros and get your plan forSEO Toronto underway.