OPTIMIZING YOUR SOCIAL CONTENT FOR SEARCH

All public social media content can now be served up in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). In terms of just the major platforms, that includes X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest and Reddit. Other more specialized platforms and forums appear as well.

If there’s a chance someone’s looking for what you’re offering on social media, the opportunity for discovery just improved.

 

Why optimize social for search?

Social media results play an important role in the SERPs. They offer two crucial differences to traditional listings, which are timeliness and authenticity.

Timeliness 

If someone is searching for answers based on an up-to-the-minute trend, they’re more likely to find what they’re looking for on social media. You can guarantee the online community would never be caught unawares by the next big thing.

In fact, the rush to cover a potential high-impact trend would likely mean an avalanche of social content, each with its own take (after all, originality is a way to stand out). From this glut of content, you’d expect to find the answer you’re looking for.

 

Authenticity

While AI content on social media is rapidly on the rise, content from verifiable creators is still a major indicator of authenticity. It’s tied to a profile (which will be tied to other profiles), where the full catalogue of content can be checked by visitors for quality and relevance. 

What’s more, long-form content (10 minutes or more) is being prioritized by a number of social media algorithms for its ability to offer more meaningful, engaging insight. If this sounds like your content, it's essential to make it visible to search engines.

Where AI currently falls down is that it's fairly easy to spot, even over a few seconds of video. 10 minutes or more of viewing AI content and the game is up.

 

Which social platform should you optimize first?

Each social medium offers something different to the SERPs. Recognizing the search value of your content on each platform will show you the best place to prioritize your optimization efforts. Perhaps your Instagram contains lots of tutorials which could trigger a bunch of “how to” queries, for example.

Remember, also, that when someone selects social media content from the SERPs to answer their query, there’s a deliberate intention and expectation behind it. To optimize a social medium for search, you need to understand what these are.

In selecting a Reddit post, for example, a visitor is likely looking for an answer which is grounded in experience. They’re prepared to do a little more digging, scrolling through a variety of comments, but for this effort, they expect authentic, non-branded answers to their query, which come from lived experience.

In selecting a TikTok video to answer their query, a user is likely looking for quick, intuitive, visual learning (a tutorial or demo, for example). 

Choosing a LinkedIn listing from the SERPs, their expectation might be to access professional insights or peer-reviewed research. Perhaps they’re looking for a specific stat, and they can’t find a good source for it in traditional content. 

On LinkedIn (and many other social media), it’s just good manners to cite the original source. There’s also more pressure to do so. Not only does it enhance someone’s credibility on LinkedIn to back up their sources, but unlike a webpage without a comments section, you can be called out for not doing it by the online community. 

The common denominator in all of these is that the person who clicks on a social media result is looking for authentic content, from a real person, preferably with expertise or experience to answer their query - it’s just the format that differs. Whichever social media platform in your particular line-up does this best is the one to start with.

 

How to optimize for each platform

While many of the principles are the same, here’s a breakdown by platform of how to optimize so you’re visible for searches relevant to your brand.

Youtube

• Use YouTube's search suggestions and trending topics as a way to discover and incorporate different keywords
• Optimize video titles, descriptions and tags for keywords relevant to the topic
• Include closed captions and transcripts so that your content can be crawled
• Include chapters and timestamps (optimized for keywords) at key moments in your content so that search engines can serve up different segments based on a search query

 

Reddit

• Use the Reddit search bar to see keywords relevant to your search (the topic of your content) and to check out what’s “trending today”

• Focus on optimising for queries grounded in experience and expertise. Also, check out discussion topics from other Reddit communities to see what “authentic” looks like.

• Only put forward content that genuinely engages in Reddit discussions rather than offering overtly promotional or overly optimized content.

 

TikTok

• Consider creating tutorial content to capitalize on ‘how to” queries. Remember longform content is more likely to be discoverable.
• Use TikTok “Discover” to find trends, then pop them into Google Trends to find relevant and trending keywords.
• Optimize captions with relevant hashtags as well as keywords
• Add relevant, trending sounds to make your content more discoverable for new music searches

 

Instagram

• Use the explore tab to view relevant trending content for topic and hashtag inspiration
• Optimize your bio for keywords relevant to your niche
• Create posts optimized for relevant keywords
• Add location tags to content that could be relevant to someone searching with this intent

 

Pinterest

• Optimize content for keywords based around product discovery and visual searches
• Take a look at Pinterest Trends and anything the search bar throws up based on your content topic to find relevant keywords
• Optimize pin descriptions and board titles for these keywords, including overlaying pins with text.

 

X

• Use the X search bar to view trending topics for your search
• Optimize your pinned content for relevant keywords
• Optimize your bio for keywords relevant to your overall niche
• Use X Analytics to track which post performs best in search

 

LinkedIn

• Optimize your profile with relevant industry keywords by using the search suggestions from the LinkedIn search bar
• After typing in your search, select any of the buttons: Jobs, People, Posts, Courses etc to see what hashtags they’re using, skills they’re recommended for and topics they talk about.
• Post longform articles targeting these search queries and skills
• Use LinkedIn Analytics to track how your content performs

 

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