Do Facebook and Twitter Help with Google rankings? If my account only has 3 followers, am I wasting my time posting at all?

The answer here is definitely “no”!ย Facebook Adverts

Matt Cutts, Googleโ€™s head of search spam, answers a question about Google’s ability to rank pages and profiles based on their popularity on the platform at the time.

Basically, Google are sometimes restricted from searching particular areas of Facebook & Twitter. This is due to a historical blocking by the platforms themselves. However, on some occasions, it is possible for Google to search these pages (which they call “crawling”) – in these instances, a page’s success will then contribute towards its ranking.

Hear what he has to say here:

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What he’s saying here is there is nothing in the ranking algorithms that put any weight on how many Facebook likes or Twitter followers a page has, at the moment.

This is mostly due to the historical blocking, mentioned above. It is also due to the personal and time sensitive nature of a page’s content. Google realise that a lot of personal content is easily accessible on Facebook and Twitter and this makes them wary of highlighting it in rankings.

Due to not being able to access some of these social platforms, there is an impression given that they don’t directly contribute to a site’s ranking. However, he does recognise that these types of social media platforms are good ways of diverting traffic through to your site, and therefore upping your ranking. Good content promotes activity! It’s also worth remembering that posting links on all your social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Stumbleupon, etc.) provides legitimate backlinks that will aid your page rankings.

He concludes by postulating that, in the future, Google anticipate being able to recognise authorship in a must more proactive manner; placing a much higher import on those who write quality content and pinpointing when, and where, they are posting.

What this tells us is that, it doesn’t matter if your page doesn’t have a whole lot of followers at the moment, as it’s not being ranked on that. What you need is good content!

Further Information

Footprint Web Design have been specialising in SEO and good quality content, helping our clients climb to the top of the search engine rankings, since we started 18 years ago. We have a number of highly experienced SEO professionals who can help your business realise its full potential. We offer bespoke SEO packages to fit even the smallest company.

Call us today on 01883 372488 or email us at info@footprint.co.uk and see how we can help you.