What's all this about social and SEO?

Earlier this year news broke that Gen Z is increasingly replacing Google with TikTok as their primary search engine. Over the past few months, we’ve seen social media platforms take notice; trialling and implementing features that seem to aid their new-found roles. So if you’re a retail brand, should you prioritise making your social media profiles SEO-friendly in 2023?

What people are saying about social media and SEO

In August of this year, Ad Week reported that 40% of Gen Z users preferred TikTok and Instagram to Google. What’s more, this behaviour extends across categories with users using the platforms for feedback, reviews and advice for everything from resume writing to restaurants.

While social media hasn’t been a direct contributor to SEO rankings before, if these platforms are transforming into search engines of their own, then it’s crucial to make your brand as discoverable to prospective customers as possible.

With both TikTok and Instagram making it clear that they’re prioritising in-app e-commerce, it seems only natural they would develop the social media sites to strengthen discovery and purchasing in the same place.

What changes have the platforms made

Though neither of the two main platforms, TikTok and Instagram, have spoken out about their search engine aspirations, it’s clear that experimentation when it comes to keywords, profile optimisation and location tagging is taking place.

TikTok recently removed one of their creator’s favourite features; the pinned comment. The move left many people questioning why, however, there has been speculation that this all links back to SEO. Having also recently increased the character count in captions, it seems this move could be to encourage longer, more detailed, and key-word heavy descriptors of videos. Some of the platform’s biggest creators are also adding their job titles or areas of speciality to their names, making them more discoverable and searchable.

In a similar move, Instagram users have been updating their names to describe key aspects of their accounts, whilst the app itself has been seen to be doing some experimentation with the text featured in Stories. Where Instagram seems to be making its biggest moves however is its location functions; enhancing its interactive map and making it an attractive feature for users.

How can you make your social media SEO friendly?

Update your name - As explained above, a quick but effective move is to update your name (not handle) to include not just your business name but also key elements of the business i.e. children’s clothing, handmade ceramics, or products for cat lovers.
Optimise your bio - It’s easy to get caught up in the desire to have something witty or whimsical as your bio, however it’s not worth the potential loss of customers. Don’t lose your personality, however, make sure that people landing on your page know exactly what you're about.
Keywords everywhere - If there’s a place to pop keywords, add them! Post captions… text overlaid on stories or videos… alt text…. these are all valuable places to add searchable words that also explain more about what your brand is and does.
Use every feature - Whether it's location tagging or linking, native text or poll stickers, use every feature that the apps offer you that you can.
Don’t forget hashtags - Whilst there’s some debate over how useful they are these days, the fact that the main platforms still have space for them means that hashtags shouldn't be neglected. Be sure to regularly do your research about the ones that your community is using most and use a combination of them across your posts.

Whilst there’s always mystery surrounding where the main social platforms plan to take their business next, all signs point to more searchable and discoverable content. As we move into the new year, be sure to make optimising your profiles a priority when it comes to your social media strategy.