Understanding Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Optimization will help people find both your website and your social media channels. It’s important that you know how to optimize for your website and your social media channels because the methods are a little bit different.
Both SEO and SMO are about driving traffic to your website.
- SEO is how you improve website ranking and bring visitors to your site from search engines like Google.
- SMO focuses on bringing visitors to your site via social media platforms.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization is basically the strategy of getting more people to your website. You optimize your website text, add proper tags, and optimize the overall structure of your site.
SEO functions using search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo etc. The goal of SEO is to improve your website ranking so you will appear in search results.
(There’s a lot more to SEO than that, but we’re talking the basics in this post.)
Social Media Optimization (SMO)
Social media optimization has only become popular in the past few years as the use of social networking sites has exploded.
SMO is another way to bring more people to your website by way of your social media channels. You optimize your social media channels so your profile is found. You share quality content to build awareness and credibility for your company.
SMO utilizes social networking platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. The more your content has been shared on social channels, a search engine like Google will see your content as high quality. This will help you rank better on Google.
Differences in Optimization Techniques
While SEO and SMO are very similar in what needs to be done, key elements like Titles and Content have subtle differences. That means you just need to approach these a little differently.
Titles
- SEO: Title tags of a page tell the search engines what a page is about. The title tag carries a lot of weight in search engine rankings.
- SMO: Titles and headlines are what grabs people’s attention on social media and gets them to click-through to read more on your website.
Content
- SEO: Content must be easily readable by search engine spiders. (Content alone will not produce high rankings. A good site structure is very important.)
- SMO: Content is for the human reader. Visual content – images, graphics, and videos – can also make a big difference.
No matter the type of optimization, the goal is to get found by new people – on search engines and social media channels.
Remember that people are using social media more and more to search for all kinds of things. Make sure your business is mentioned socially with lots of links so people can find you.
[sc_fs_faq sc_id=”fs_faqo32g12470″ html=”true” headline=”h2″ img=”” question=”What is SMO and why do I need it?” img_alt=”” css_class=”” ]Social media optimization, or SMO, has become more important in the last few years because the use of social media sites has grown. SMO allows you to connect with customers and potential customers on a personal level, plus more people are using social channels to search for businesses like yours. Make sure all of your channels are optimized![/sc_fs_faq]
