The small business guide to social media SEO

When you hear the words “search engine optimization,” you probably think of Google—like many others would. It’s become an essential, hard-to-avoid part of marketing in today’s digital-first environment. But many people overlook, or have never heard of, social media SEO.

While traditional Google searches have dominated the way we find information for two decades, the landscape is rapidly changing. This guide will help business owners understand what social media SEO is, the impact it can have, and how to implement it in their marketing.

What is ‘social media SEO’?

Let’s start with some of the basics:

SEO is short for ‘search engine optimization.’ This term is most often used in reference to enhancing your website or creating blog content to appear more prominently in Google, Bing, and other search engines when people look up certain keywords.

Organic social is considered the ‘free’ content you post to your social media networks. Though this content may be unpaid in terms of how you’re distributing it, that’s not to say talented marketing professionals on your team aren’t working hard to create it.

Paid social is the advertising that takes place on social media networks. These are posts or campaigns that are developed to target a specific audience and include some sort of budget or boost to expand their reach.

Now imagine combining the principles of search engine optimization with social media platforms. Social media SEO is the practice of optimizing your social media profiles and content to expand your reach. SEO best practices will differ across the many social media platforms, but doing this can help your content appear more prominently in search results on social platforms, which in turn helps you gain followers, increase your engagement rate, and drive more organic traffic. 

3 reasons why social media SEO is important for your business

Whether you’re a business owner contemplating the merits of an Instagram business page or you’re already active across multiple platforms, social media SEO is the key to a more visible and impactful online presence.

1. Increase your content reach. Integrating a social SEO strategy for your business can help your content get discovered by more people. The more exposure your business gets in these search results will familiarize your brand with potential customers.

2. Build trust with your community. Showing up more prominently in social search results can help support your reputation in your industry or local community.

3. Discover audiences that don’t use traditional search. Traditional search engine usage has been declining in recent years, especially among younger demographics. Using social SEO can help you reach new audiences on platforms that your competitors may not be aware of yet. Oftentimes your business social media pages or posts can appear in searches for your business, so this is a great tactic to take up more space in search results.

Social SEO basics

With over 77% of businesses using social media to connect with customers, it’s crucial to understand best practices if you want to see results from your social media efforts. While strategies for each platform will vary (we’ll get into that below), there are some tips that ring true across all of the different platforms. Get started with your social SEO strategy with these three pointers: 

1. Optimize your profiles and content with keywords. Leveraging keywords is the basis of a traditional SEO strategy, and the same thinking goes for social media SEO. The about or bio section of your social media profiles should be fully filled out and include any industry keywords and your website. When creating your post captions, integrate your keywords naturally and leverage any relevant hashtags to optimize your content reach. Overstuffing your captions with keywords can negatively impact your audience’s experience with your content.
2. Use alt-text with your visuals. Alt-text, or alternative text, is the written description of an image that appears when an image isn’t visible. While the original purpose of alt-text is to help visually impaired individuals or those using screen readers, most social platforms will analyze any alt-text to get a better understanding of what your post is about and show it to relevant audiences.
3. Tag your location. If your business serves a specific area, include it in your social media profiles and content! By tagging or adding your location, your content will appear to a more targeted audience or in specific searches.

Social media SEO best practices for every platform

YouTube SEO tips

Use keywords in your video file name, title, and video description. Pay special attention to where you can use keywords on YouTube — placements like your video file name can be easy to forget, but play a key part in placement in search results. Try to incorporate your keywords as naturally as possible to avoid sounding robotic.

• Add the option for closed captioning and upload a transcript. You can easily add a video transcript as you’re uploading your video. This not only helps people who are hard of hearing, but the platform will use the transcript to better analyze the content of your video and share it to relevant searches.
• Add hashtags. Hashtags help the YouTube algorithm connect your content with similar videos or playlists that may share the same content. Hashtags also allow viewers to find related content via search.
• Use chapters for longer videos. YouTube videos have the option to add time stamps and create ‘chapters.’ This makes them easier to digest and gives you more places to insert keywords.
• Create eye-catching thumbnails. According to Google, 90% of the best-performing videos have custom thumbnails. Taking the extra effort to design thumbnails for your videos increases the chances of clicks and views.

Facebook SEO tips

• Optimize your “About” sections with keywords. Unlike many other platforms that prefer short and sweet descriptions, Facebook allows you to write a lengthy description in the “About” section of your business page. Incorporate your brand keywords, location information, and details on your products or services.

• Add location specifics. Include details like your business location and hours of operation to provide as much information as possible. If your business happens to have multiple locations, consider creating multiple pages, one for each location.
• Update your page’s username and web address. Updating your Facebook username from the default will help people find you on the platform. It’s also used in the web address for your page.

Instagram SEO tips

• Find your hashtags. Be deliberate when choosing hashtags for your posts—some hashtags are used widely and you run the risk of being drowned out, while others are too niche as search terms. Finding that sweet spot will help your discoverability. For example, the hashtag #eventplanner has over 20M posts while a more location-specific tag like #texaseventplanner has 13.7K posts or a vertical-specific hashtag like #corporateeventplanner, which has 186K posts. Instagram currently limits hashtags to 30 per post, but it’s usually best practice to limit yourself to less than 10 per post to avoid appearing spammy.
• Take advantage of different post formats. Don’t limit yourself to the traditional in-feed post. Instagram has a wide range of post formats available, from Stories to Reels and carousels. As Instagram updates its algorithm and releases new features, experiment and discover what resonates with your audience.

• Incorporate keywords in your post captions. You should still include keywords in your post captions even if you use hashtags.
• Use location tags. Tagging your location is an easy way to increase your content visibility and reach. This is especially important if your business serves a specific area; consistently adding location tags to your posts will allow for better local discovery.

X (FKA Twitter) SEO tips

• Optimize your X bio. Adding relevant keywords to your X posts and your bio can help increase your visibility in search results both on-platform and off. Integrate your keywords naturally into your content, taking into consideration any character limits your profile might have. 
• Leverage threads to share your expertise. Sharing longer-form content in short snippets on X can be a great way for your profile to show up more prominently in searches.

• Include relevant hashtags in your posts. Hashtags are widely used for discovery on X and act as quick signals to other uses about your post content. But remember, less is more when it comes to X, so don’t overload your post with hashtags. Pick one, maybe two of the most relevant hashtags so your post appears in specific search results, but doesn’t appear spammy.
• Add alt-text to your images. When sharing any visuals on X, remember to add alt-text to your image that includes your keywords. This helps with accessibility for visually impaired users, but can also boost your content in search results.

LinkedIn SEO tips

• Add company details. LinkedIn has multiple places where you can fill out your company profile and include additional information in places like the Life tab. Taking full advantage of these sections and completing your company profile helps users find your company page when searching.

• Create long-form content to share your expertise. Writing longer posts on LinkedIn and using features like articles and newsletters are great for post visibility in LinkedIn feeds as well as the native search. LinkedIn frequently prioritizes insightful and educational content that is meaningful to audiences. If your business can churn out that type of content, you’re more likely to see higher placement in feeds and search results.
• Regularly maintain your Company Page. Give your profile a holistic review every few months to ensure the content and descriptions are up to date. Consistent fresh content can help search engines like Google recognize your page as active.

Pinterest SEO tips

• Create boards based on relevant keywords. Outside of your Pinterest bio and Pin descriptions, another place to naturally integrate keywords are your Pinterest boards. Create Pinterest boards strategically, as they align with your brand, and pin and repin relevant content to build a strong presence.

• Use long-tail keywords in your Pin titles and descriptions. Many keywords are just too popular for your content to stand out. The solution is to leverage long-tail versions of your primary keywords. For example: if you’re an accounting firm looking to push more content on Pinterest, instead of using the popular “finance tips” keyword, you should get more specific, like “finance metrics every business owner should track” or “how to manage small business finances.” These long-tail keywords will help you reach a more targeted audience and get more targeted traffic, as well as give Pinterest a better idea of what your content is really about.
• Use high-quality images. Much like other social platforms, Pinterest is a visual-first channel so it’s important to use eye-catching visuals to ensure your content pops in-feed. Crisp visuals will help reinforce your brand, leading to more saves or shares, helping your content rank higher in search results.

TikTok SEO tips

• Discover what’s trending. Doing the latest TikTok dance might not make sense for your business, but researching the latest trending audio, hashtag, or meme format and applying it to your content can help you appear in feeds and searches. Just remember to do your due diligence when it comes to trends, and consider if they feel truly on brand for your business.
• Use on-screen text to highlight your keywords. When you’re creating TikTok videos, you have the ability to add on-screen text. It’s recommended you use this feature and enable captions, as TikTok algorithms will read this text and serve your content up to users’ feeds. 
• Don’t overdo the hashtags. Hashtags can go a long way on TikTok, similarly to Instagram, in surfacing your content in searches. But remember to find ways to naturally add them to your post captions and in moderation. Overusing hashtags can make your captions look cluttered and confuse potential viewers.