Did you know that Matt Cutts released a video explaining that social signals do not impact search engine result rankings?
For a long time, every SEO behaved as if they did. If this is true — that social signals don’t affect search rankings — what do we do now?
I’m making the case that social is the new SEO. But I need to explain the new social/SEO territory that we’re in, specifically in the wake of Cutts’ announcement.
So, what has changed with social media and SEO?
Let me give you a brief history of Google’s conflicted stance on social signals.
Google’s stance on social media
First, in May 2010, Cutts stated that the algorithm does not use social signals as a factor in search results.
Then, in December of 2010, Cutts revealed that the algorithm does use social signals as a factor in search results.
Finally, in January of 2014, Cutts informed us that the algorithm does not use social signals as a factor in search results.
This agonizing back-and-forth has caused some confusion in the search community. For the last several years, we’ve been operating under the assumption, stated by Cutts himself, that social signals were an algorithmic rank factor.
Our metrics seemed to back it up. The higher our social following, the better our sites seemed to perform in the SERPs. Evidence suggests that the so-called “social signals” were a helpful SEO feature.
And now, the… Read More