Social SEO: How to Help People Find You on Social Media
Find out what social SEO means, why it matters, and — most importantly — how it can help you grow your business accounts on all social media platforms.
Find out what social SEO means, why it matters, and — most importantly — how it can help you grow your business accounts on all social media platforms.
Are you relying on social media algorithms to get your content seen (a.k.a. posting and hoping for the best)?
If so, you might be missing new followers and potential customers. Social SEO helps your content be seen by people who are actively searching for companies like yours or the products and services you offer.
Read on to find out what social SEO means, why it matters, and — most importantly — how it can help you grow your business accounts on social media.
Bonus: Download a free social SEO checklist and follow pro tips for Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn to get your posts seen by more people.
Social SEO is the practice of adding text-based features like captions, alt-text, and closed captions to your posts to help people browsing social platforms easily find your content.
To understand social SEO, you need to understand the basics of traditional SEO. In digital marketing, SEO stands for search engine optimization. Search engines like Google or Bing allow you to search for information and then serve up a list of web results that point you to the content you’re looking for. (Or, at least, the content algorithms think you would want to see based on the search phrase you used, your location, previous searches, etc.)
Social networks are not technically search engines — but they all have search bars. And big social platforms are incorporating ever more features of traditional search engines to help match users with the content they want to find.
People originally used social networks to view their personalized feeds of content from specific people and brands they followed. Now, people actively use social networks to search for specific information. Think product reviews, brand recommendations, and local businesses to visit.
Social SEO is all about getting seen when people are actively searching for content, rather than scrolling their feeds.
Here’s what you need to know to get your content found on every social network.
For more in-depth Instagram SEO strategies, check out our full blog post on Instagram SEO.
If you want a foolproof strategy to help you land on the FYP, we’ve got even more on TikTok SEO in our complete guide.
For more, check out our complete guide to Facebook SEO.
Learn more in our top tips for managing Twitter SEO.
Pinterest itself is a powerful visual search engine, so if it’s your primary social channel, check out our top 10 tips to Pinterest SEO.
Optimizing your business Page? Check out our LinkedIn SEO guide for even more info.
In the past, getting your social content seen has been all about working the algorithms to get your content into people’s feeds. Now, people are taking a more active approach to finding content they want, rather than just scrolling through the content presented to them.
So, the focus on discoverability isn’t new. Social SEO just requires a shift in thinking about how people discover your content. When people search for information on social platforms, you want them to find your content.
Social SEO is all about connecting with people who don’t (yet) follow you on social platforms. That means it can be a more effective way to grow your social channels than focusing strictly on algorithms. New eyeballs are the key to growth.
This summer, Instagram launched a new searchable map feature to allow people to find popular locations using the app. Instagram is now directly competing with Google Maps to be the best search provider for local business results.
New map, who this? 🌐🗺️
Now you can now find popular locations around you or filter by categories like cafes or beauty salons. pic.twitter.com/asQR4MfljC
— Instagram (@instagram) July 19, 2022
Teen writer Julia Moon said in a piece for Slate:
“I use Google products regularly. But I use them for only the most straightforward tasks: checking the spelling of something, looking for a quick fact, finding directions. If I’m looking for a place for lunch, or a cool new pop-up, or an activity my friends would enjoy, I’m not going to bother with Google.”
Her local search map of choice is Snap Maps.
And high-school student Ja’Kobi Moore told The New York Times that she used a TikTok search to learn how to request a teacher’s letter of recommendation when applying to public school.
No matter what product or service your business sells, there’s a potential customer base that will never find you through traditional search engines. Social SEO is your key to connecting with that audience.
Social SEO is the practice of including relevant information and keywords in your posts (in captions, alt-text, subtitles, and closed captions) to increase the chances of having your content surfaced to users browsing social media.
SEO in social media works a lot like SEO in traditional search engines. It all starts with keyword research. We’ve talked a lot about using keywords so far. But how do you go about finding the right keywords to use?
Rather than brainstorming your own keywords based on how you think people will search for your content, you need to understand how people actually search for content like yours.
Source: Word cloud in Hootsuite Insights powered by Brandwatch
Some good tools to get you started are:
Source: Looking for keyword inspiration using TikTok search
All of the social platforms offer slightly different opportunities to incorporate SEO techniques. So which is the best?
It’s a tough question to answer because the network where it’s most important to focus your SEO efforts is the one where your audience is most likely to spend their time or conduct their research. To answer that, you need to do some basic audience research.
But in terms of straight-up SEO functionality, YouTube is definitely the social platform that functions most like a search engine. This is no surprise, since YouTube is a Google product.
Looking at social SEO another way, if you’re hoping for your social content to show up in Google search results, YouTube wins again.
Beyond that, it depends. Twitter and Google have a partnership that allows Tweets to feature prominently in search results. Pinterest ranks well for highly visual content. LinkedIn Pages often appear in business searches, and Facebook Pages rank especially well for local businesses. Google is currently working on improving its ability to index and serve TikTok and Instagram video results, too.
Source: YouTube videos in Google search results
Social algorithms are all about serving content to people who are passively browsing or scrolling through a social feed, like the TikTok For You page. SEO, on the other hand, is focused on making sure your content is seen when people actively search.
Save time managing your social media and get your content seen using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard, you can schedule and publish content, engage your audience, and measure the performance of all your accounts, across networks. Try it free today.
Do it better with Hootsuite, the all-in-one social media tool. Stay on top of things, grow, and beat the competition.
Free 30-Day Trial