For years, a raging debate has been ongoing. Many brands and marketers debate the pros and cons of platforms such as social media, and whether or not concepts such as SEO are better. Some even suggest that the two might be intertwined; that the holy grail of traffic can actually be impacted by a combined effort of social media and SEO.

While the truth may be a bit difficult to discern and the debate of how SEO is impacted is constantly evolving, there is much to know about how each of these elements can impact one another – and how they don’t. To help you out, let’s look at the ways in which SEO, social media and traffic all intertwine.

How Social Media and SEO Interact

The biggest question is whether or not social media and SEO actually can benefit one another. There are many ways to look at this question, but the general consensus is that social media does not assist SEO in the conventional ways that link building and other common tactics provide elsewhere. This is because pinging URLs via social media posts are almost always done via nofollow methods; search engines do not evaluate the brands these social media accounts are affiliated with, and for good reason.

For instance, a link shared on social media by a random user that points to your website is coming from an individual account. That account, in almost any situation, is not a prominent individual (and therefore there is no reason for search engines to view it with authority).

In short, boosting SEO directly via social media engagement is by and large not a solid strategy. However, there are ways in which social media can be used to generate similar results and/or indirectly improve SEO outcomes.

Why Social Media and SEO Should Be Intertwined

The simple reality is that nobody would bother with SEO if it didn’t generate results for websites and content creators. Ultimately, SEO is all about driving traffic to your website and gaining additional exposure. Prior to the mass acceptance of social media, search engines were the predominant way to do this. They still provide immense benefit, but social media offers an alternative approach.

Much like with search engines, building a social media presence can be done both organically and via paid marketing efforts. When boosting visibility on social media, the end result is that more people see your content and view your website. In many ways, it is identical to SEO – but conducted on a different platform.

There is also something to be said about the indirect impact that social media can have on SEO. For example, a popular post or link boosted on social media can land in front of the right people, which then may translate into earned links on these peoples’ blogs and websites.

Ultimately, whether you’re pinging URLs to search engines or via social media, you’re doing so to earn traffic, clicks and other forms of engagement. While there isn’t a direct link between these two strategies, there is both overlapping work and benefit to enjoy; dedicating resources to both strategies and intertwining them where possible is simply a smart decision.