Is there a direct connection between social media popularity and improving SEO?

Posted in: SEO
Author: Ryan Walsh
Date: 11/08/2026

Search behaviour is changing faster than ever before; we are not just talking about consumers using social media to find businesses either. Instead, now there’s GEO, AEO, and of course SEO remains an important part of the marketing mix.

Therefore, the best businesses- the businesses which really know how to improve their digital marketing and get their maximum value out of this process- know that SEO and social media are not separate entities.

They share the same goals: to drive more shoppers towards a website to sell, well, more stuff or services. Therefore, this is why the social media teams, managing the company’s X, Instagram and Facebook accounts, should not work in isolation from the SEO teams; otherwise, you’re missing the objective.

 

Using the two to improve visibility and growth

There are therefore strong overlaps with social media and SEO. So, first of all, we have long been advocates that to improve a business’s search engine optimisation, you need to get your business more clearly understood by Google’s Knowledge Graph. To do this, traditional ranking factors, such as backlinks, need to be improved.

However, also getting a large following on, say, Instagram, and regularly posting content about the same thing- let’s say luxury brand watches- well, that instantly communicates to Google’s very clever algorithms what your business is about and what you offer as a business.

 

The key areas to know about SEO and social media:

Alignment

The biggest brands in the world do not let their social media teams, PPC teams, and organic search engine optimisation teams all work in isolation. No, they get all teams to work in alignment.

For example, the company could be weak in one area, or let’s say launching a new product. Let’s say it’s a range of electric cars aimed at the budget end of the market. Therefore, all teams need to work together to meet that common goal, or selling more products in that area.

Sounds like common sense; however, SME businesses can learn a trick or two here if you’re sourcing your SEO and social media management to separate companies, they do need to communicate.

 

Brand awareness and visibility

Okay, so this is where some agencies will typically disagree with each other: that social media does not directly impact Google’s rankings. On this one, we are very much on the fence, the reason being Google’s Knowledge Graph.

We actually believe quite strongly that if your business, which is deemed as an “entity” by Google’s Knowledge Graph- well, if that’s better defined- you rank higher organically. Now to do that, well, you do need a good social media presence; this is important.

Then there’s all the other spin-off benefits, for example, brand awareness. Put simply, if your brand is strong on social media, this generates more brand awareness. Therefore, when the customer does want to find a business to purchase items from later, well, if you have strong branding, they will feel like they already know your business from, say, social media posts that they have seen, or they might even be following your business on, say, Instagram.

 

Social media content planning / SEO insights / Keywords

Okay, so as one of the area’s best agencies, sure we use the market-leading SEO programmes such as Ahrefs and SEMrush. However, sometimes it’s social media where the newest trending keywords are learnt from. For example, you may find that people are referring to that new product in a particular way.

This can then be fed into your on-page, technical, and even content marketing. Because this could be something that shoppers themselves are referring to that product as, and because the keyword is so new, sometimes it won’t even be picked up by the SEO programmes just yet.

 

What is SEO?

Okay, so you may be reading this as a social media manager; you may not therefore have a clue what ranking factors are, what Google’s

Knowledge Graph means and how to improve organic visibility.

Well, SEO is simply the art form that’s what we like to think of it as, in terms of getting a business to rank higher in the search engine results pages. These are commonly referred to as the SERP’s. Now, to get any business, whether you are selling wedding rings or vacations in luxury hotels, you need to improve the following:

• On-page SEO
• Technical SEO
• Off-page SEO

Now, SEO is all about writing keyword-targeted content; however, it’s more than that. Everything has to work together, just like a car’s components have to. For example, you have to understand page speed and Google’s Core Web Vitals. You have to build high domain authority and relevant backlinks. Plus, all of the on-page optimisations, to help improve a website’s visibility, all of the work, such as the on-page work, has to be white hat.

 

What is Social Media Marketing?

But is social media marketing worth the effort?

Yes, the use of social media platforms, such as TikTok, LinkedIn, and Facebook, all help to improve brand awareness. And with 5.66 billion social media users (as of October 2025), there is simply a huge amount of potential customers that can be found through social media.

 

Social media vs traditional search engines

What a lot of businesses now find is that shoppers actually use social media to find businesses, just as more people now like using AI platforms, such as ChatGPT, to find companies. Therefore, the way shoppers are finding businesses is changing faster than ever before.

For example, you may use Instagram to use hashtags to find #placestovisit in a certain country—or #certainrestarant.
When influencers or people you follow are all saying a certain place, then this can help to draw in more and more shoppers.

 

Does Google (Alphabet) actually say that SEO and Social Media are connected?

It’s been the long-held view that social signals do not directly have a bearing or impact on SEO.

For example, when you go way back in time, and we mean to 2014 (this is ages back when it comes to SEO), well, a key Google employee called Matt Cutts actually stated that social signals are not part of Google’s algorithm.

However, a lot has changed since then; Google’s algorithm is now so much more complex and well built. We suspect that Google does use social signals and social media following to at least better understand your business as an “entity”.

 

How things are changing

Fast forward to more recent times, and in 2025 Google has more recently added a “social channel” within Google Search Console. This allows you, for example, to monitor your business’s social channel performance. As SEO agencies like us would check every day where organic SERP’s have moved to, or the number of organic visitors, well now you can see how well your business’s content marketing is doing in social media using Google Search Console.

 

How can we, as a business, get Organic SEO and Social Media to work well together?

More visitors

Let’s say you write a long-form piece of content marketing, let’s say a 3,000-word piece of evergreen content that looks to offer what you feel is the best answer to that question.
Now, organically in the first month, let’s say you get 500 organic visitors.
However, you could get another 500 eyeballs on that page by simply promoting it on your business’s social media channels.
This means more traffic to your company’s website, which means that if the work is done right, you can bring more interested shoppers to your website. By doing this, you can help to improve sales and revenue for your business.

Entity building and Google EEAT

Another SEO concept that is closely aligned is Google EEAT and entity building.

Entity building is simply better defining your company as an entity. Sometimes Google better understands this in terms of:
– What your business offers
– Who the key staff members are
– Key pieces of information such as start dates of the business
– Key milestones, such as getting a patent granted on your product.
Now, of course, using social media in isolation for this task would be mighty hard to do. However, if you use social media to help Google better understand the products and services you see, well, that way you’re still helping with entity building and semantic SEO.

 

Can help improve backlink acquisition

It’s important to remember that with social media you can sometimes build a real loyal audience.

For example, let’s say you manufacture very high-end paints. Now, you may have a huge following of quality painters and decorators.
Some of the followers could also be interior designers for luxury clients. Now, let’s say, for example, they have done some work for a client; they showcase the work on their own blog.

Well, they may link to your website; however, how they learnt about, say, the “heritage range of British paints” in the very first place may be because they read your social media posts advertising that new line-up of paint colours.

 

Local SEO buzz

This again ties into Google Knowledge Graph; however, now it’s possible that a Google Business Profile can become better optimised. For example, let’s say you launch a new cake shop; this generates a huge buzz in the local community. You’re talked about positively on social media, generating more footfall.

As you get more customers, more reviews are left on your business’s Google Business account. As this happens, this positively impacts your local SEO- see how they are all linked?

 

Social media visibility directly in the SERP’s.

Sometimes people have a good idea of where they are going or what they want to buy. This sometimes results in a branded search, basically entering the exact product or company name into Google.

This then often results in the business’s social media links, with some posts also appearing on the SERPs. Again, this can improve social media following; it can also be that “push factor” that encourages shoppers to buy from you when they see all the positive comments on your business’s social media accounts.

 

How we can help

We are one of the most established SEO agencies, therefore, we can offer quality SEO advice.

If you would like us to work with your business, to generate more visitors and sales, then do call us.