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What’s New & Important for GA4? [2023]

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What’s New & Important for GA4? [2023]

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) marks a major shift in thinking about how web and app properties are tracked. Formerly called “App + Web properties” in beta, Google Analytics 4—announced in October 2020—builds upon the foundation of cross-device unified measurement introduced in July 2019.

GA4 is a new Google product that allows for Web and App data to be collected separately, or in one continuous property. GA4 is designed to replace both Universal Analytics (UA) and GA360, which will be deprecated in 2023. UA accounts will stop collecting data effective July 1, 2023, while GA360 accounts will stop collecting data effective July 1, 2024. At that time, GA4 will become Google’s sole analytics platform.

Acknowledging the increasing overlap between web and mobile app development and content—as well as answering marketers’ needs for unified data—Google Analytics 4 seeks to eliminate the need for manual stitching and workarounds between platforms.

Although Universal Analytics (UA) tracking is available until July 1, 2023 with historical data available for an additional 6 months later, it’s important to recognize GA4 as “the new Google Analytics.”
 

What is Google Analytics 4?

 
GA4 is not simply a redesign of Universal Analytics (UA); it’s an entirely new product that can be installed in addition to your existing UA profile. That said, if you’re setting up GA for the first time, GA4 is the “latest version” that superseded UA as the default analytics platforms in October 2020. UA can still be installed, but GA4 is to be considered a Google Analytics update.

Previously, Analytics was divided between web properties (traditional Google Analytics) and Analytics for Firebase (to specifically cater to app needs). Perhaps most importantly, Google Analytics 4 seeks to set property owners up with flexible, yet powerful analytics tools within the bounds of cookieless tracking and consent management.

In other words: Google Analytics 4 is ready for the future, and the future is now.

 

Universal Analytics vs. Google Analytics 4

 

Q. Should Businesses Use Both Universal Analytics & GA4?

 
 Absolutely—assuming you already have an existing Universal Analytics profile. GA4 implementation does not necessitate removing your existing GA setup. You’ll want to keep that in place for all that valuable historical data, with the insights you garner from GA4 working in complement with it.

If you are setting up Google Analytics for the first time, you can get started right away with GA4; there is no need to create a new, separate Universal Analytics profile, as those will sunset in July 2023.

A number of important changes have taken place in the evolution of GA4 and the growing restrictions around data privacy. A few key items that have changed—and not just for GA4, in some cases—include:
 

IP Address logging

 
IP logging has been deprecated as a whole, and all processing for locations will happen and be passed through to GA. This meets GDPR requirements and ensures no compliance issues arise in the form of transferring PII (personally identifiable information)
 

EU Data

 
Previously, EU data was being moved to the States to be processed. This practice has been deprecated, and all EU data is processed within the EU, which also ensures GDPR compliance
 

Google Signals Regionality 

 
Launched in 2018, Google Signals is a product that collects data for users who have opted into Ad Personalization. This data is anonymized and made available to integrate into reporting, audience building, and more. Google Signals can be disabled for specific regions (Countries, specifically), while included for others. There are a number of reasons this control is important; while not necessarily a GDPR requirement, it allows entire regions to not be a part of intake. Reasons for this are typically socioeconomic and/or political
 

Granular Location and Device Data Collection

 
A number of data points including city, device information, browser versioning, and more were previously default. Some may prefer not to collect certain data points for the sake of being tighter on compliance risk. These previously default data points can now be specified regionally if they will be collected
 

New Features & Capabilities of GA4

 
Our GA language is changing. While the reasons we use GA data largely remain the same, the available data—and the best ways to answer the questions at hand—have evolved.

A number of metrics that we’ve grown accustomed to in Universal Analytics have either changed or deprecated and been replaced with something new. Let’s explore a few of the most important updates…

 

New metrics to track

 
 
Old user behavioral measurements are on the way out. Metrics including bounce rate and average session duration will no longer be available in GA4, requiring that we start using new metrics to understand behavior. These metrics include engagement rates and engaged sessions, which are more impactful in what they describe than previously available metrics.
 

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Goals are out, Conversions are in

 
While largely a change in name, the taxonomy changes slightly due to the deprecation of the category/action/label hierarchy of previous events.

It’s important to note that GA4 will count every instance of a conversion event—even if it’s occurred multiple times in one session. For instance, if the same user fills out a form 3 times in one session, that conversion will be counted 3 times. Previously, Goals could only occur once per session.
 

Pageviews are out, Views are in

 
‘Views’ is used over ‘pageviews’ in GA4 due to the combined nature of web & app properties; ‘Views’ accounts for both screenviews and pageviews.

Repeated views of the same content are all counted, as always.
 

Session is out, Session Start is in

 
The definition of what creates a session has slightly changed; a session is now determined when a specific event ‘session start’ is triggered, which generates a session ID that is appended to each event that occurs within the session.

Sessions end after 30 minutes or the defined timeout period. Additionally, sessions no longer restart at midnight, or when new campaign parameters are encountered.
 

Bounce Rate (while still available) is out, Engagement Rate is in

 
Bounce Rate was always based on whether someone’s session duration was 0. Engagement Rate measures in the opposite direction, communicating what we were always truly looking to learn from Bounce Rate: What percentage of people are actually interacting with the site?
 

Average Session Duration is out, Average Engagement Time is in

 
While the two metrics are calculated differently, Average Engagement Time reports on what Average Session Duration was trying to touch on, but never quite got there: user focus on web or screenpages.
 

A different way to display data

 
Universal Analytics’ data model is hit-based, characterized by sessions and pageviews. Pageviews are essentially the key to the ignition, being the starting point of data collection for Universal Analytics. In GA4, this proverbial key is instead made up of events.
 

Uncovering user information with Identity Spaces

 
GA4 is equipped with four different identity methods to help in creating a unified view of cross-device user journeys:

 

  • User – ID
  • Google signals
  • Device ID
  • Modeling

 

All data associated with the same user—or identity—is assigned to the same identity space. These identity spaces are used across all GA4 reporting, allowing brands and advertisers to de-duplicate their users list, and gain a richer understanding of their relationship and interaction with your business.
 

Multi-purpose audience lists

 
When you create Audiences in Google Analytics 4, they are automatically imported and become available for remarketing in Google Ads on the Google Search Network, Google Display Network, and YouTube. In Universal Analytics, advertisers had to recreate the audiences in Google Ads that had been created in Google Analytics.
 

Key Business Benefits of Google Analytics 4

 
 
GA4 is a step in the right direction when it comes to providing businesses with the insights that matter—and can be acted on—today, leveraging machine learning and AI components built for the nearing cookieless future.

GA4 opens the pathway to describe and collect data in the way that is most meaningful to each business. Limitations are far fewer, and strong-arming interaction into the constraints of old events becomes obsolete. Collect what you need, and analyze it at the level that is most meaningful.

It’s also notable that the free version of GA4 allows for free product linking. Previously, a GA360 license was required to link DV360, SA360, Campaign Manager 360, and BigQuery.
 

1. Unified Metric and Dimension Scopes

 
The single biggest advantage of Google Analytics 4 is the unified view between app and web.

Collection methodology is united to “events” with traditional pageviews on a more even scope with behavioral events. Prior versions of Google Analytics required separate tagging and separate properties, with inconsistent (by default) metrics and dimensions.

 

 

Keep in mind there won’t be historical or 24h+ data when you first get into the new GA 4, but you’ll start to see data populate over time

 

2. Simplified & Organized Reporting

 
Perhaps more importantly to marketers and web analysts, with the re-scope of methodology, GA4 has brought several new reporting tools. The existing web and app reports have also been reorganized in the platform UI. Of course, the biggest benefit is the unified user view between app and website, but Google has also revamped their custom reporting tool to an “analysis hub”, which offers a bit more flexibility with custom and ad hoc reporting.
 
User interface for Google Analytics with page-by-page engagement
 

3. New Privacy-Conscious Data Controls

 
 
Unified user journey and reporting across platforms has been a difficulty since the dawn of app and web development. Google has answered (finally!), and seems to understand that these needs will continue to increase, especially with the challenges of data collection.

See also  6 Nonprofit Marketing Trends that All Marketers Should Know About [HubSpot Data]

As 3rd-party data collection is criticized by privacy advocates (and we observe certain platforms implement tracking restrictions), Google is prepared to shift towards using anonymized first-party data, along with consented tracking. By unifying properties, collection scopes, and announcing significant server-side capabilities, Google is shifting away from client-side dependencies.
  

A Brief Overview of What to Expect with GA4

 
Over the last few years, we have seen Users and Sessions physically change places in GA. This subtle shift was a nod to the future, encouraging marketers to begin tracking towards users over session by session data.

This shift is fully realized in GA4. Event-based tracking over hit-based tracking allows for flexibility and granularity of data not previously possible. Old required categories, like Category/Action/Label, are deprecated, and all interactions with a website are ingested at the same level of granularity.

A pageview happens at the same level of detail as a link click—as scroll depth is tracked, as conversions are recorded. This level-setting allows for flexibility that would have been more limited, making the question less about what happened in a session, and more about the behavior of a user, and the translation of data points into human actions.
  

How to Track Important Marketing Data & Create Reports in GA4

 
Within the Property Settings, a default attribution model can be set for reporting needs. A lookback window can also be specified, leveraging 30-day as the default. This is a stark difference from UA, where Last Non-Direct Click was default, and could not be changed across the account; different models were previously only comparable in a specific tab.

Google has released important notes on attribution models:

  • Direct visits are excluded from receiving attribution credit on all attribution models unless the conversion path was only direct visits
  • Attribution models have been, and will be, introduced at different dates, with data for those models only available from their start dates forward. If you select data outside of the available date, only partial data will be seen

 
Attribution reporting previously focused on how a website acquired a user’s session, however GA4’s attribution reporting will focus on both how the user was first acquired and how a user’s subsequent sessions were acquired. Below, you’ll see reference to a number of metrics that factor in not just current sessions, but also the original method of acquisition.

You will see a number of old dimensions and metrics that utilize language like ‘First user source’ and ‘Session source’. This is used in a number of dimensions, including channel grouping and medium, to differentiate between information specific to the user’s initial acquisition as well as subsequent sessions.

New in GA4:

  • Active Users — Number of users that have been active in a 28 day period
  • Engaged Sessions — Number of sessions that lasted longer than 10 seconds, had a conversion event, or had at least 2 views
  • Engagement Rate — Percentage of total sessions that were engaged sessions
  • Average Engagement Time — Calculated summation of user engagement durations per active user
  • Event Count — Count of triggered events or hits

 

Current GA Attribution Models

 
Data-driven models — Data-driven attribution distributes credit for the conversion based on channel data for each conversion event. It differs from other models because it uses your account’s data to calculate the actual contribution of each click interaction.

Cross-channel rules-based models —These come in a number of formats, dependent on specifics:

  • Last-click gives full credit to the last channel with a click or engagement via YouTube
  • First-click gives full credit to the first channel with a click or engagement via YouTube
  • Linear gives even credit to all channels before conversion
  • Position-based gives 40% credit to each first and last, splitting the remaining 20% across all middle channels
  • Time delay gives more credit the closer the channel is to conversion, using a 7-day half life
  • Ads-preferred model gives 100% credit to the last Google Ads channel clicked through prior to converting

 

How to Migrate to Google Analytics 4 from UA & GA360

 
Because GA4 is an entirely new product, you can’t simply hit an ‘update’ button on your existing Universal Analytics or GA360 property; a new property needs to be created for GA4, and your site will need the appropriate tagging to begin collecting data.

While Google is providing a mirroring service that translates UA tags to GA4, both our and Google’s recommendation is to not rely on this solely.  Due to the inherent differences in data structure, this will likely lead to messy setups; with any errors or issues from the old setup being carried to GA4.  With the introduction of GA4, there’s the opportunity to set yourself up for success in this new age of analytics.

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Some strategic questions you’ll need to answer before implementation include:

  • Should you migrate to server-side tracking?
  • Is your existing Tag Manager or gtag integration collecting all of the data it should?
  • Is your app running the latest version of the Firebase SDK?

 
If you want to have year over year data available in GA4 before the UA and/or GA360 deprecation, a full implementation is required before the respective date for this year (July 1, 2023 for GA360). If not completed by then, GA4 will have gaps that complicate 2023 year-over-year reviews.
 

Web Properties

 
A separate tracking code needs to be added to properties. This can be done within existing Google Tag Manager integrations, with no immediate need for code development on sites that are already successfully running Tag Manager.

Sites without Tag Manager will need to upgrade their site from analytics.js to gtag.js. We recommend considering Tag Manager if this is the case, for ease of implementation for all site tags (not just Analytics).
 

Mobile Applications

 
Existing Firebase SDK integrations will need to be updated to the latest version for Google Analytics 4, and apps without Firebase will need to be implemented.

If you already have the Firebase SDK on your site, make sure you have the latest version and link the app. If your app doesn’t yet have the Firebase SDK, get started in Google Analytics.
 

Best Practices to Make the Most of GA4

 
Data is forward-facing from the date of install, so the sooner you add GA4, the more historical data you’ll have. Adding GA4 to your site now—even if you don’t yet have the time to learn the layout, or decide how you’ll use the insights—is so important because it will start capturing data immediately. GA4 will keep running in the background so that when you are ready to explore its capabilities, you’ll have some statistically significant information to work with.
 

Take Time to Familiarize Yourself with Newly Available Insights

 
Historically, Google Analytics data has been very pageview-driven, providing information on familiar metrics to include the number of sessions and their average duration, the number of users and new users, bounce rate, and more. The data GA4 provides is more oriented toward understanding the customer lifecycle, to include information regarding acquisition, engagement, monetization, and retention.

In short, GA4 provides an entirely new way of looking at things. And a new way of looking at things can be both wonderful and overwhelming, especially if you’ve been using Google Analytics daily for many years.

Since there are so many changes to the user interface and methodology, the sooner you start planning, the better. Even if basic code is set-up on your site/app in parallel, it will allow users to familiarize themselves with the nuances of the new platform.
 

Have Your Data Cake (and eat it, too)

 
As we mentioned—at least as long as Universal Analytics is still available—you don’t have to choose. For the time being, you can have your data cake and eat it, too.

While you still have 2 profiles—UA or GA360 and GA4—we recommend using them individually and in tandem, understanding which metrics are related, or influence one another. Chances are new connections between dots will present themselves, and those enhanced understandings of how A can impact B can impact C can be invaluable.
 

Should You Make the Switch to GA4?

 
Yes—as soon as possible.

Once Universal Analytics (UA) is retired, site owners who haven’t yet installed GA4 will be scrambling to get it implemented. We strongly recommend exporting and maintaining hard copies of historical data for your records. Data will not be transferable from UA/GA360 to GA4 properties due to how differently their data models and definitions function and operate. If you need help with this data export, Tinuiti can help!

Avoid the panicked rush by getting your site set-up well ahead of time, especially because GA data is so important. Proper implementation—with time to work out any potential kinks—is crucial; you make a lot of decisions based on GA data, so you need to be sure the information you’re working with is accurate.

With the change of the data model and how data is organized, we’re seeing a shift in how Google Analytics will be best leveraged. GA has historically been among the best ways to view and analyze, while GA4 is far better-positioned to be the nexus point of data, ready to be leveraged, particularly within Tinuiti’s own Mobius ecosystem.
 
Get in touch now to see how Tinuiti can help you assess readiness and migrate to GA4. 
 
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published by Tom Clinton in November 2020 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

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How To Master Your Hashtags on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

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How To Master Your Hashtags on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

Remember in The Little Mermaid when Ariel sits in the grotto pulling petals off her underwater flower, wondering if Prince Eric loves her or loves her not?

That about sums up my relationship with hashtags.

I love them for their contribution to social posts’ organic reach and visibility. I do not love seeing brands use them willy-nilly, stuffing them like King Triton’s magic trident into their captions to fix a failing social profile.

Hashtag success doesn’t come from hoping you land on “they love me.” It depends 100% on your hashtag strategy.

Let’s break it down by platform so you can go from #TheyLoveMeNot to #TheyLoveMe hashtags in 2023.

Hashtag success doesn’t come from hoping you land on the “they-love-me” petal, says @coastlinemktg via @CMIContent. #SocialMedia Click To Tweet

Twitter

Hashtags on Twitter can be a powerful tool for boosting your brand’s visibility, encouraging engagement, and expanding your network with like-minded individuals.

According to Twitter Business, tweets with relevant top hashtags can generate a significant lift across the marketing funnel, such as +18% message association, +8% brand awareness, and +3% purchase intent. These tips based on Twitter’s best practices and my experiences can help you get started:

Quantity matters

One or two relevant hashtags in your tweets are the sweet spot. Could you add more? Sure. Should you? Probably not.

Consider relevancy

Look for frequently used hashtags and engage with those posts to increase visibility. Don’t shy away from hashtags specific to Twitter chats (like #CMWorld). These forums are great opportunities to meet potential clients, make connections, and grow your knowledge base.

Go niche

Think beyond the broad hashtags and get granular. Often, you’ll find some of those RAQs (rarely asked questions) Andrew Davis talked about during his 2022 Content Marketing World keynote to position yourself as a thought leader on the platform.

See also  6 Nonprofit Marketing Trends that All Marketers Should Know About [HubSpot Data]

Follow @DrewDavisHere rarely-asked-question advice and get granular with hashtags to position your brand as a thought leader, says @coastlinemktg via @CMIContent. #SocialMedia Click To Tweet

Test everything

Don’t base your hashtag success on like counts. Use Twitter Analytics to track tweet performance and look for correlations and patterns to see which hashtags get the most engagement so you can replicate that process.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is all about connection, whether you’re building a personal brand or marketing a brand. And much like Twitter, if you want your content to stand out among LinkedIn’s 500-plus million members, an appropriate hashtag strategy is key.

When used correctly, adding relevant hashtags to your posts and articles will help you connect with new audiences, establish credibility, expand your reach, build a community around your organization, and promote your brand and its products.

Here’s what I recommend:

Count the quantity

LinkedIn suggests including no more than three hashtags per post and using broad and niche hashtags for increased exposure (e.g., #marketing vs. #contentmarketing).

Three hashtags are sufficient if you target them appropriately for the target audience.

Consider hashtag placement

When possible, insert your hashtags organically into the post caption so they become a natural part of your story. Clumping them at the bottom not only looks clunky but distracts from the purpose of the post.

Don’t clump hashtags at the bottom of a @LinkedIn post. Insert them organically into the #content, says @coastlinemktg via @CMIContent. #SocialMedia Click To Tweet

Optimize your pages

Choose up to 20 specialties to add to your company page that represents what you do and what you post about. Think of these as “hashtaggable” keywords to help your page be found more easily on the platform.

1685657511 210 How To Master Your Hashtags on LinkedIn Twitter Facebook and

Use hashtags in comments

You can add hashtags when you comment on a post or article. This good community management tactic can help increase your personal and brand searchability.

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Test everything.

Keep a record of the hashtags you use and look for correlations with your overarching goal (i.e., engagement, post clicks, reach, etc.).

Facebook

Because many users’ profiles are set to private and an abundance of topical groups exists, getting audience members to engage and interact with hashtags on Facebook can be more challenging.

I don’t recommend spending time on Facebook hashtags, but before you opt out, monitor relevant and branded hashtags to make sure your audience isn’t the exception to the rule.

You can do this search by adding the keyword or hashtag at the end of the URL facebook.com/hashtag/_____.

If no one has used the hashtag in years, don’t invest time in creating a Facebook hashtag strategy. However, if you find the hashtag does engage an audience, use no more than two to three hashtags per post to see if they perform for your brand.

Instagram

Do hashtags help you improve your brand’s reach on Instagram in 2023? This is the current question circling the social sphere. According to Instagram’s head Adam Mosseri, hashtags aren’t as effective on Instagram as they once were.

 

So, what now?

Social media search engine optimization enters the hashtag conversation.

Hootsuite experimented to see if posts with hashtags performed worse than those that prioritized relevant keywords.

The results? Keyword-focused captions saw 30% more reach and increased engagement over those with hashtags.

That’s not to say that hashtags don’t still have their place. They’re just not the priority on Instagram that they once were.

Armed with this data, here are my Instagram recommendations:

Minimize hashtag usage

A few months ago, I would have recommended a max of 12 hashtags. My current recommendation is no more than four targeted hashtags on any post.

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Don’t use more than four targeted hashtags on @Instagram posts, says @coastlinemktg via @CMIContent. #SocialMedia Click To Tweet

Use relevant and descriptive keywords

Think of caption writing as just another form of content writing. Incorporate relevant and descriptive keywords. Keep it short and sweet when possible. People scroll so quickly that crafting clear, concise captions makes sense to get the maximum impact.

Tag topics

As the Topics icon indicates, topics are the next iteration of Instagram’s hashtags. They help you reach people who share an interest. You can add up to three topics to your post right before you publish it if you have the feature in the share menu.

Check out the competition

You probably have competitor accounts you emulate for their content. Do a deep dive into what’s working for them on the platform and use what you learn to inform your strategy.

Maybe they use some targeted keywords you hadn’t considered to reach your audience or maybe you walk away with a renewed sense of creative vision. Either way, it’s a win.

Keep it fun

Social media is supposed to be fun. It’s where you get the chance to show a brand’s personality and give audience members a look behind the curtain. Don’t take a hashtag strategy to the extreme, and stop interjecting humor and personality into your posts.

So when it comes to a hashtag strategy for social media, keep it specific, concise, and fun. Happy hashtagging.

 Register to attend Content Marketing World in Washington, D.C. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100. 

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute



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How Social Media Can Supercharge Your SEO

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How Social Media Can Supercharge Your SEO

When working in social media, it can feel like you exist worlds away from SEO. And as an SEO, social media may feel like something that isn’t quite relevant in your day to day. But as with all things marketing, both of these digital marketing tactics have the potential to boost collective success. As a Social Media Manager, I’m here to tell you how you as an SEO can collaborate with your social media team in order to help supercharge your SEO efforts.

What is a social media strategy?

A social media strategy is a document that outlines your organization’s social media goals, along with how you will achieve them, both through top-level strategy and on-the-ground tactics (i.e., what you actually do). A strategy is the foundation of how your organization approaches being on social media.

Social media vs. search engine optimization

Social media involves owning accounts and having an active presence on social media channels like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube, with the goal of driving brand awareness and engagement, or increasing traffic and conversions. On the other hand, search engine optimization (SEO) is a set of practices designed to improve the appearance and positioning of web pages in organic search results, resulting in increased website traffic and exposure to your brand.

Do links from social media improve your SEO?

Links from popular social media platforms such as Facebook are “no-follow” links, meaning they do not send link authority directly to your site. PageRank is Google’s algorithm that ranks web pages based on the quantity and quality of external backlinks. However, gaining no-follow links from high-quality domains is still extremely important.

In the past, marketers ignored “no-follow” links, as they did not have any impact on organic ranking, but the “no-follow” attribute isn’t completely useless. A well-balanced backlink profile consisting of both followed, and no-followed links will appear more natural to Google and other search engines.

Another benefit of “no-follow” links is the referral traffic that they can provide. Although search engines will not follow links with the attached HTML “no-follow” attribute, users can click them to reach your site, giving you more traffic!

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While no-follow links do not provide the same boost to your site’s backlink profile as followed links, Google still likes to see them as a part of your site’s backlink profile, and they offer a valuable source of referral traffic.

The SEO benefits of increased brand awareness

The primary SEO benefit of brand awareness that your social media strategy can drive is the boost you can see in “branded” organic search volume and clicks.

Not every user encountering your brand on their Instagram or TikTok feed will click through to your site — in fact, most won’t. Most people will mentally file away your brand name and products only to perform a Google search for your company name or products after the fact, i.e. a branded search. This is especially true if your social messaging is solid and memorable.

For many sites, especially newer ones, a branded search can represent a large portion of your organic traffic.

5 ways social media can improve your SEO

There are five ways that a robust social media presence can help improve your SEO:

Amplify website content through social channels to reach new audiences

Your website content may be great, but you need to drive eyes to it somehow! Sharing your content, like blogs or guides, on social media is a win-win-win:

  • You’re building positive brand sentiment by providing content that answers people’s questions.

  • You’re driving more users to your website.

  • The positive response toward your content on social media sends signals to the social algorithms and therefore often shows it to new people.

One way we do this at Moz is with this very blog! Anything the Moz Blog publishes is promoted on our social media channels, which not only drives traffic but puts valuable content right in front of our audience for them to get immediate insights from.

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Create and share infographics in social posts and blog articles

In my experience, people love nothing more on social media than a classic infographic. Sharing information in bite-sized, colorful, and visually appealing ways will result in shares, engagement, and traffic to your website. Plus, they’re versatile — include them in your blogs, and you can use them on your social media posts! Every Whiteboard Friday episode that we publish here at Moz gets its own accompanying infographic. This is a great way to resurface a well-loved episode, and give people more value up front.

1685632260 394 How Social Media Can Supercharge Your SEO

Build relationships with customers

One of the core tenets of social media is that it’s a two-way street. As you get started, you as a brand need to provide valuable content to your audience without asking them for anything in return. Once you’ve cultivated goodwill with your audience, you now have a relationship in which you provide value, build that favorable currency, and then you’re able to cash in on it in exchange for traffic or follow-throughs on your CTAs.

While our social media philosophy is that everything we put on social media has some form of value to our audience, we also make it a point to create content that doesn’t explicitly ask for anything, like clicking links or purchasing our product. Sometimes that’s providing them with information, and sometimes that can look like making them laugh.

1685632260 773 How Social Media Can Supercharge Your SEO

Optimize your profiles on social channels and lead audiences toward your website

A simple but effective way to lead audiences to your website is to make it easy to get to! Ensure you optimize your social channels and keep a link to your website in each profile. If you need to house multiple links, use a “link in bio” service, but always make sure a quick shortcut to your website stays front and center.

See also  5 Image SEO Optimization Tips [Infographic]

This strategy is something we use on our Instagram. Instead of constantly changing the link based on what we’re promoting that day or just wasting the opportunity the link in bio provides, we have a link in bio tool through Sprout Social that lets us showcase all the links that are tied to each of our posts.

1685632260 410 How Social Media Can Supercharge Your SEO

Target users who are more likely to convert to your site. Conversion and engagement metrics are great for SEO!

With social media, you should always know who you’re trying to reach and how you’re going to do so. One audience you should target on social media is people you know are ready to convert. Have different posts for different audiences as a part of your content mix, and include more mature leads further down the funnel. These become easy wins because they convert and engage once they hit the website, which is helpful for SEO metrics.

We know that the majority of people are coming to Moz for beginner SEO education, so we make it a point to really highlight those resources, such as our Beginner’s Guide to SEO or our How to Rank Checklist, knowing they will always see a lot of traffic and engagement.

1685632261 762 How Social Media Can Supercharge Your SEO

Build relationships between your social media and SEO teams

A strong relationship between your social media and SEO teams is crucial. You can trade information about high-performing topics that can inform strategy on both sides or allow you to make reactive changes to your tactics based on opportunities. Schedule a monthly one-on-one with your respective counterpart in your organization to connect and fill each other in on pertinent information.

With this information, you’re now armed to go out and make this happen for yourself! Take this as an opportunity to connect with your social media team and find new and innovative ways to collaborate and drive results for both social media and SEO.



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The Ultimate Guide to Hiring a PR Agency in 2023

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The Ultimate Guide to Hiring a PR Agency in 2023

Vanessa Carlton said it best: Your company is making its way downtown, faces pass, and you’re “success” bound. See what I did there? Anywho, your company is on its way. But how do you communicate that with your stakeholders and the public?

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