While it is true that Google has revealed that social signals do not determine rankings on SERPs, almost all SEO experts unanimously agree that you cannot simply discount any effect it would have on your site’s SEO and your overall online presence. Quite simply, they seem to agree that social is the new SEO, and is the way forward for online marketing. Here are some things to consider when sketching up a strategy.

Ranking Isn’t Directly Affected by Social but It Isn’t Entirely Immune

Social signals related to the authority of a profile have already been ruled out, but there is evidence to prove that Google rankings may indeed consider backlinks from credible sources and high-impact social media accounts. Originality and quality of content are obviously still prevailing factors, but sharing across different social networks is definitely used as a mark of credibility and popularity of a page against a particular keyword phrase.

While Google has been ambiguous when talking about social media impact, Bing, the second-most popular search engine in the world, has declared that they definitely take into consideration the number of retweets of a particular link, as well as, the presence of the users who retweet the same. Further, Google’s spiders crawl through social media just like other sites, so they are able to return what they find on these platforms anyway. Social media shares can and possibly are, therefore, treated as credible backlinks. Get in touch with a reliable SEO agency for perfect solutions.

Profiles Are Openly Ranked on SERPs

Social shares and their contribution to ranking pages are up for debate, but the situation is much more clear-cut when it comes to social profiles. These deeply influence search rankings and are almost always among the first links to pop up. Google will show the Google+ profile info for the company in the right side pane,and also list out all relevant social profiles in order of impact. This makes a lot of sense because social media is a lot more personal than promotional web pages. A user is likely to visit these pages and learn more about the company.

Social Media Is Searchable Too

Google and Bing aren’t the final stops for searching anymore; new-age internet users are more than willing to look you or your business up on social media. A quick search across any network would bring up relevant results, but if you haven’t put in work to establish your profile, it might be pushed down by random results, thus severely hurting its reputation. On the other hand, a well-made profile with good content across text and visuals goes a long way in building your online presence. Furthermore, on sites like Twitter users are able to search for specific keywords and terms across the site, and the more influential your profile, the higher it is on their results page.

Social Search engines must also, therefore, be factored in when developing an SEO/SEM strategy, since Twitter handles 19 billion queries a month, YouTube nearly 4 billion, and Facebook a staggering 30-35 billion. Your profile must be distinctive so that people are able to find it and pick it out with ease.

Conclusion: Think Long-Term

Google is saying social signals don’t impact rankings now, but that hardly means they never will in the future. As the days roll by, social media is becoming more and more important in society as well as in marketing, especially because guest blogging and other link-building methods aren’t very reliable quality indicators anymore. There is plenty of room for social media as a signal of value or authority.

Author Bio: Jack Nelson is a content marketer working at a top SEO agency. He also maintains a blog where he writes about ongoing trends in the world of SEO and SMM.