A few weeks ago, we wrote about how social media search results were beginning to appear within Google Search Console. At the time, the big opportunity was obvious: for the first time, we could start seeing how content published on platforms such as Instagram was actually performing within Google Search.
Now, the data is starting to come through. One brand new Instagram account we’ve connected to Search Console has generated 553 Google Search impressions and six clicks in roughly six weeks, with an average position of 13.9.
Are those enormous numbers yet? No.
Are they important? Absolutely. Cause it shows growth and, most importantly... those clicks come from keywords from the SEO keyword research!
Why does keyword research matter for social media?
This is exactly why we’ve been banging the drum about Social SEO. Social captions shouldn’t just sound good. They should include the language people are actually using when searching. That means SEO keyword research can directly influence how we plan social content, from the topics we talk about and the wording used within captions, through to relevant hashtags and the questions we answer. We’re no longer simply trying to make a post perform within Instagram. We’re giving that content another opportunity to be discovered through Google too. And those first clicks show that opportunity is becoming very real.
Why is tracking social search so important?
For us, the most exciting part isn’t simply seeing that Instagram content is receiving impressions. It’s what we can do with the data next.
Search Console gives us the opportunity to understand which search queries are triggering social content, which posts Google is surfacing and where we’re already beginning to gain visibility. If we discover that a particular keyword is consistently generating impressions, that becomes something we can investigate further. Can we create another post around it? Can we improve the caption? Is there a related keyword opportunity? Could the same search term support a blog, landing page or wider SEO campaign?
Suddenly, social media becomes another source of keyword performance data.
SEO and social are becoming harder to separate
This is still early days, but the direction is pretty clear. SEO keyword research can inform social content. Social search performance can then feed new information back into SEO. That creates a rather lovely little feedback loop.
Research. Create. Track. Learn. Improve.
For us, that’s the real value of Google finally giving marketers visibility over how social content performs in search. Because you can’t optimise what you can’t see.
Is your social media plan invisible to Google, or do you not even know where you stand on search visibility? Get in touch with the team to talk Social Media Management.
