Social media's influence on search engine rankings has been a long term debate. While it's been confirmed by Google that social media isn't a direct contributor to your SEO rankings, there is evidence that suggests the social signals created by this presence are influential.

Social media was designed for mass sharing and increased visibility. Likes and shares create social signals that also have the potential to do the following:

• Distribute content further
• Improve brand reputation & recognition
• Improve the longevity of your posts
• Improves organic traffic and visibility

Social signals indicate to Google that your content is of high value to your target audience which ultimately encourages the crawlers to rank you higher.

Click here to listen to 7 tactics you can implement in order to produce these influential factors and social signals within your marketing strategy.