Facebook and Google SEO: Does Facebook Help Search Engine Optimization?

Q: thanks…also wonder if Facebook posts (and shares) are tracked by Google too?

Q: I heard that not all blog formats, like WordPress, are searched by Google. Is this true?

Answer:

I think first of all you have to realize that there is a business competition going on here. Google and Facebook are clearly competitors, and it stands to reason that Google is not going to go out of its way to help Facebook. So in my very humble opinion, I doubt very much that Facebook shares long-term will help you with Google search. Flip this on its head: what social network does Google wants to reward? Google plus!

Google+ and SEO

So, first and foremost, the number one social network to participate in for search engine optimization is Google plus. Google plus has three varieties. First, Google plus profiles, which are essentially Google plus for humans – these are your personal Google profiles. Using Google plus personal you can attach your picture to Google searches via authorship. Second, Google plus pages, which are the pages used by corporations. So far there is no great value here as not very many people actively use Google plus. Third, Google plus local, which if you have a local business is incredibly important and you must get reviews.

Back to Facebook. Facebook shares may have some value and they certainly won’t hurt you, so I do think it is good to try to get people to share your links on Facebook. Even better is Twitter. Why? Because Twitter is very public in a way that Facebook is not. So after Google plus, I would highly recommend that you participate in Twitter not so much to reach people on Twitter but to activate Intel Google that you are alive and active on social media, especially sharing your URLs.

Blog formats and SEO

Yes, and not all blog formats are all equally good at search engine optimization. I am a huge fan of WordPress, as WordPress has the most developed ecosystem and the best plug-ins. Other formats especially the public formats like blogger are not particularly good. So if at all possible post your blog through word press and install one of the WordPress SEO plug-ins such as Yoast.