\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The link between social signals and SEO has been a debate for years, but the recent introduction of Google+ has only heightened this discussion and caused more confusion. Do social signals really play a big role in SEO? If a social media site is a no follow site, is that still beneficial for SEO? Are certain social signals more important than others? These questions are quickly becoming more and more important to understand for websites really looking to improve their position on a Google SERP.<\/p>\n
The first thing to get straight is what the term \u201csocial signal\u201d really means. People often think of social signals as the number of tweets or the number of +1s, and while these certainly are social signals, it\u2019s important to think of them in terms of changing positions on a Google SERP. While these will help a website gain visibility, it is that visibility that changes a website\u2019s ranking. In other words, social signals are really more indirect than direct. Still, this should count when it comes time to answer the question: How do social signals play a role in SEO?<\/p>\n
Ways Social Signals Can Affect SEO<\/strong><\/p>\n Google bases ranking positions on signals that can be trusted\u2014back links from authoritative <\/em>sites, internal links that improve<\/em> navigation, etc.\u2014so the question really becomes whether or not Google can trust certain social signals. People may be able to tweet out a lot of content, but is this really something Google can trust to change a ranking? Probably not.<\/p>\n For this reason, Google has begun to alter SERPs based on personal preferences. The following social signals can be trusted because the person doing the searching has either notified Google that they like a certain article\/website or they are connected with someone who vouches for an article\/website:<\/p>\n