Survey: Social Media Marketing Prioritized in SEO Efforts

Marketers are continuing to invest in SEO, and as they do so, research shows that they are shifting their focus toward social media marketing in the new year.

Clutch and Ignite Visibility recently conducted the “How Organic and Paid Search Inform SEO Strategy” survey to gauge how marketers are targeting their SEO efforts. The top SEO priority – answered by 20 percent of respondents – was social media marketing. This was followed by on-site optimization (16 percent), creating content to earn links (15 percent), and mobile search optimization (14 percent).

“Social media correlates with search rankings (link is external): If you regularly post on social media about your business and target search terms, the chances that your posts appear on relevant search results increases,” says Grayson Kemper, content developer and marketer with Clutch. “Social media helps build branded traffic and provides more exposure for content, which can result in more links.”

When it comes to the top channels for companies that invest in SEO, 94 percent cited social media. Website (95 percent) and email marketing (80 percent) were also named top channels among marketers.

Marketers and the ROI of Social Media

Although social media may be a targeted channel for marketers investing in SEO, previous research has indicated that it remains a challenging tactic.

The “2017 State of Social Marketing” report from Simply Measured discovered that 61 percent of brand and agency marketers struggle to determine the ROI of their social media initiatives.

Most agencies (57.8 percent) use engagement metrics to gauge their ROI. About 24 percent utilize conversion and revenue metrics, and 15.7 percent use amplification and brand awareness metrics.