Social media may just give your SEO strategy the boost it needs. See how social media can impact your SEO rankings.

SEO and social media go hand-in-hand and there’s a good reason why. Social signals are factored into the ranking algorithm and can help to boost search engine rankings if you can leverage them correctly. Here are the main factors that Google considers when looking at your social media presence.

1. Local Check-ins

Why they matter: Check-ins are factored into the algorithm as a validation signal for your geographical location. Google figures that when users check-in to your location, they are checking into a legitimate and accurate location. Both Foursquare and Facebook offer check-ins, and if you are a local business Check-ins can be a good way to help boost local SEO.

How you can benefit: For businesses with a physical address, you can leverage social check-ins by first creating a Facebook business page and/or Foursquare account. If you already have a Facebook business account, you can enable check-ins by adding your business address and checking the box that says ‘show this map on your Page and enable check-ins.’ Promote check-ins with social media posts and incentives like discounts or special offers.

Enabling check-ins on Facebook

2. Facebook Shares, Twitter Tweets, and Google+ +1s

Why they matter: Shares, tweets, and +1s are all signals that indicate the quality of your content. When people share your content and web pages, especially authoritative individuals, it speaks to the quality and influence of your content. Currently, Google +1s are weighted more heavily, but all on-page shares and interactions can help build your authority online and shouldn’t be overlooked.

How you can benefit: If you have a blog or news site, adding share buttons to each article is essential to help promote sharing and build your content’s authority. Do the same for your website as well by adding share buttons to your homepage and internal pages where users can easily see and use them.

3. Facebook Fans, Twitter followers, and Google+ adds

Why they matter: Fans and followers signify your brands’ influence across the various social networks and also act as an authority signal. Brands with a significant amount of followers appear to be authoritative and influential. A significant social following coupled with interactions like shares, likes, and tweets can help create a boost in your search rankings.

How you can benefit: Quality content and engagement is a great way to elicit new followers. By providing something of value, through informational and relevant content, you increase your chances of obtaining more followers. Some of the networks, like Twitter and Facebook, offer advertising which can extend your brand’s reach and can also help to increase your social following. When growing your social following, the bottom line is to focus on obtaining quality fans, naturally.

4. Reviews

Why they matter: Reviews are great for local SEO, especially when they come from trusted and authoritative individuals. Reviews from review sites like Yelp and Google Places help to build your credibility online, and not just for the search engines, but for your users as well.

How you can benefit: First create accounts with Yelp, Google Places and any other review site that relate to your business. Ask happy customers for a review and include the Yelp or Google Places badge on your website and/or storefront to help promote more reviews.

A good social presence can really help give you a boost both with local search rankings and your rankings overall. If you would like more information on social media strategies or how you can leverage social media to your advantage, contact us.

Submitted by Erica Machin, Titan Growth

Local listings like Google Plus Local can give businesses an advantage in local search. Here’s how you can get started.

Local listings can give a company a one-up in local search, and a Google Maps listing is a must for any company with an address. Besides the advantage of local search, local listings also help users better connect with and find your business.

While there are many advantages to creating a listing, Google’s current update with Google Places and Google+ Local creates a lot of confusion for those who are just trying to get started. Here’s how to navigate the update and create your business listing the easy way.

Disclaimer: This article assumes that you do not have a Google Places listing or a Google+ Business Page set up yet.

Getting started with Google+ Local

It’s important to remember that a Google+ Local account is not mandatory for creating a business listing on Google; however, by incorporating Google+ Local you offer your users more ways to connect with your business through reviews, photo tagging and further engagement with your brand. Also, by creating an account with Google+ Local first, you will avoid a 2-step verification, making the process much more seamless.

Step #1 Create a personal profile 

In order to create a local page for your brand, you must first have a personal Google+ profile. You can set one up here. Once you have a personal profile, you can create a local page by navigating to the ‘Pages’ section and clicking ‘Create a page.’

Step #2 Select the ‘Local Business’ category 

After selecting ‘create a page’ you will be prompted to identify what type of business page you would like to create. In order to create a Google Places listing through Google+ Local, you MUST choose ‘Local Business or Place’ as your business category. Once you have selected the local business category, you will be asked to enter a phone number. If you already have a Google Places listing, your listing will show up as an option to select, and you will eventually have to re-verify. If it doesn’t show up, select to ‘add your business to Google.’

Step #3 Complete your information 

Complete the rest of your information, agree to the terms of service and finalize your new page.  Once your page is created, you may add in additional information for a more complete profile, including a thumbnail image, a background image, a description and hours of operation. Make sure to fill out your profile to its entirety.

Step #4 Verify your page

In order for all of your information and edits to go live, you will first need to verify ownership of the page. Google does this to ensure that businesses are valid and have provided users with legitimate information. Click the blue ‘verify’ link under the about tab to verify your local business page. Google will send a small white postcard (Easy to overlook, so keep an eye out for it!) within 1-2 weeks containing a PIN that you will use to verify your business.

That’s it! Once you have verified your listing, and your information has gone through Google’s quality check, all of your changes will be live and users will be able to find your listing and Google+ Local page. You will be able to manage your listing through your Google+ account, and users will be able to review and engage with your company.

If you have any questions about setting up Google+ Local, Google Places or how these listings can impact your SEO strategy, please contact us.

Submitted by Erica Machin, Titan SEO

In my combined 13+ years of experience leading explore and advising Metropolitan Touring I traveled extensively, participated in conferences, trade shows, roadshows and every kind of imaginable travel show. During that time, I was able to learn about the industry from two very different sides of the spectrum: the product and the intermediary.

Throughout my travels, it became very apparent that everyone involved in distribution was deeply concerned about the Internet and what OTAs and suppliers (chiefly hotels and cruise lines) were doing.  It is no secret that the Internet has fiercely become a global market.  As a result, the travel industry and value chains have been disrupted by the exclusion of intermediaries, leaving end-consumers with more control and easier access to hotels, cruises lines, tour packages, inbound tour operators, etc.

It was also apparent that different countries were at very different stages of embracing (or fighting) the Internet. On one end of the spectrum, there are countries like the USA that are hyper-competitive and in general, very sophisticated with online marketing and internet technologies. On the other end are countries that can be 5 or even 10 years behind. In the USA, hotels, cruises, tour operators and travel agents alike were keener on embracing the Internet rather than fighting it, whereas, in other countries, the intermediaries are still fighting the Internet; and many hotels continue to disregard the Web entirely, thus missing out on great opportunities that it presents.

Some of the best opportunities obviously exist in the countries or industries that are behind. When a company decides to take on the newest, most advanced practices, techniques and technology and implement them in one of these “outdated” countries, it’s easy to outperform the competition.

I realized back in 2008 that in order to take advantage of the online marketplace, the first thing you need is visibility. If your customers can’t find you or your site, then any additional online marketing efforts may be futile. We made the decision then to embrace the Internet to its fullest, adopting Advanced SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques to improve our visibility across the web. Over time, the benefits of this strategy became apparent and we were able to witness monster figures in terms of organic growth and search rankings which translated into increased business, leads, brochure requests and ultimately direct sales. We were able to see ROI of over 50x. When looking back at my own experience, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was by far (and remains) the most effective way to drive visits to a site and garner a high return on your investment. A close second to SEO was Pay Per Click (PPC), where we were able to see ROI of over 25x.

As I now advise travel companies, many of which are intermediaries, the first thing that I do before I get into any formal engagement is to make sure that the company, from the CEO down, is embracing the Internet and SEO. If they are not committed, I will not carry on any further discussion. Lack of commitment only results in wasted time, capital and above all, opportunity. For companies who whole-heartedly embrace the Internet and its capabilities, the opportunity can be tremendous.