Optimizing for social search

Optimizing for Social Media Search

The increasing prevalence of social media search should come as no surprise given how social media is now embedded in most people’s day-to-day. More than 78% of global users report using social media to search for brands and products, with millennials and Gen Z showing the highest preference for using social media for search. This social-first mindset means that brands that aren’t optimized for social search are going to start missing out, and losing market share, especially if their key audience is millennials and Gen Z.

What is social search?

Google is no longer the first tab people open when searching for products, services, educational information, or any number of things. More often, people are using social media platforms to begin researching because they want more than a list of websites and more than an AI synopsis. Consumers are looking for brand reviews, product tests, peer evaluations, deals, how-tos, and tried-and-true solutions. Which means social search is booming.

How can SEO and social media work together?

As more people move away from search engines as the primary research tool in favor of social platforms, it has marketers thinking about the role of SEO. For social search, a lot of the same core components of SEO are still important: high-quality content, digital authority, brand visibility, and relevance. However, social allows for more flexibility and creativity in how those components are implemented and what impact each has on an audience’s ability to find and interact with a brand. Overall, more traffic from a variety of channels will help drive better SEO results. With digital channels, everything is connected.

Ways to optimize for social search, no matter your preferred platform

The best ways to optimize for social SEO are generally related to how you would optimize a webpage to improve SEO rankings, but with a few changes and additions. Starting with the tips below will give a brand a solid foundation to start improving in the social search hierarchy.

Keywords still reign supreme – In fact, they are more relevant than ever before for social SEO. With algorithms constantly improving, you no longer have to keyword stuff, but you need to be tied into the keywords and phrases that are most relevant to your audience.
Optimize your profiles – Treating TikTok like LinkedIn or YouTube won’t win you any customers as each channel requires something slightly different. Long gone are the days when you can use the same content across channels and hope for the best. Identify your main channels, curate the information that goes on each, and update your profile to reflect the audience that will find you on that channel. Keep it inline with your brand voice and appearance.
Act on trends – Trends are hotbeds of activity on social media and they can deliver superior results, but only if it is relevant to your brand and your audience. Do not expect each trend to make sense. However, be ready to jump on the ones that will deliver. You might consider putting together a guideline for joining or not joining trends to give your team room to make fast decisions.
Leverage social media search tools – Social media platforms want you to spend more time on the platforms, spending money and sharing content. As such, there are a host of social media search tools available for brands to utilize. Use them! Start searching for influencers, publish ads and organic content, include hashtags, review and customize insights and dashboards, join and contribute to groups, and customize profiles and pages to get the most from each platform.

Platform-specific social search strategies

As mentioned above each social media platform has developed its own unique search ecosystem, with relevant algorithms and social media search tools. Understanding the nuances and using them to your advantage are key to getting Facebook SEO vs LinkedIn SEO right. Here are some tips to optimize for each platform:

TikTok

The most efficient search-first platform, with many users finding everything from recipes to product reviews on the platform. Make sure to follow these tips:

Optimize your captions as the algorithms reads and indexes every word. Include your keywords and leave more detailed captions than you might elsewhere.
Choose your sound wisely as trending sound is more likely to get pushed to the top of the search results, as does original sound, but that’s a bigger lift.
Capture your viewers interest fast as videos with the best completion rate and watch time are ranked higher. Lead with the answer or result, use text overlays that include your keywords, and create pattern interrupts that stop the scroll.
Video text should be optimized as well! Any text in your video is discoverable by users, so be sure to include text overlays and three to five of the most relevant hashtags.

Instagram

More and more, Instagram is improving its search capabilities, moving beyond simple hashtag searches to keywords across multiple content elements.

Optimize your bio using keywords and spaces to make it scannable. It should serve as a mini landing page where people learn about your brand and your value add.
Make sure to include alt text in your images. Writing descriptive alt text ensures improved accessibility (what it was originally created for), and ensures the right content meets the right audience.
Use captions and the first comment to improve searchability with relevant keywords and phrases.
Choose the right medium. Not surprisingly, Reels are more searchable than static posts, so choose your medium accordingly.

YouTube

Perhaps predictably, YouTube draws on more traditional SEO principles more than other search engines, making it a great place to drive cross-channel traffic.

Optimize titles, descriptions, and timestamps. The idea is to add the most content possible to make it easy for viewers to see the information they are looking for quickly. This also tells the search engine that your video contains valuable information at each timestamp.
Include closed captions and transcripts, but make sure to review and correct them before publishing as they are often wrong.
The more engagement, the more your video shows up. Watch time, likes, shares, and views all add up to tell the algorithm which videos are the most valuable to viewers. Share content outside of YouTube and always encourage viewers to like and share.

Overall, social search requires a platform-by-platform approach to get right. However, the potential for return is well worth the effort it takes to optimize your brand’s most relevant social platforms for social SEO.